W-3Water · free lead test kit
How do you use NYC’s free lead test kit?
NYC’s free lead test kit is ordered through 311, arrives within 10 business days, and tests water that has sat in your own pipes for about six hours.
Which building is yours?
- Prewar walk-upEach household orders its own kit. A landlord testing the building must order one kit per apartment, not one for the whole walk-up.
- Brownstone or row houseOrder one kit for your household. If you rent out a floor, that tenant can order their own, or you can request one per apartment.
- Co-op or condo high-riseShareholders order for their own apartment. Your result reflects your own plumbing too; lead solder was legal in NYC until 1987.
- Two-family houseEach of the two households can order a kit. Older one-to-four-family homes are the group DEP flags for lead, so both floors are worth testing.
- New-build condoUnit owners and renters can each order one. A lead line is unlikely, but DEP notes "lead-free" fixtures may still hold up to 0.25% lead.
Which building are you in, and who orders the kit?
The kit is for homes, and it is ordered per household. That matters most in multi-unit buildings. A tenant in a walk-up or a co-op can order one for their own apartment without asking anyone. A landlord who wants to test a building has to request one kit for each apartment (311, Lead in Drinking Water). In a two-family house, each floor counts as its own household. The program is not for day cares or businesses.
How do you order it?
Ask for the Free Residential Lead Testing Program kit through 311 by phone or online. If the online form is down, call 311. DEP’s page asks for patience because of high demand. The kit comes in a box about the size of a shoebox, usually within 10 business days. It goes back free, through any Post Office, with the prepaid label inside.
Legend: the numbers on this plate
- 1kit per household at presentNYC311
- 10business days for the kit to arriveNYC311
- 30days from testing to mailed resultsNYC311
- 6 hoursthe water should stand unused before the first sampleNYC Water video
What are the steps for taking the samples?
The kit’s instructions come first, and the NYC Water video below walks through them. In short, the sample has to show what has been sitting in your pipes, so timing matters more than anything else.
| Step | What you do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pick the tap | Use a cold tap you drink from | The test is about your drinking water |
| 2. Let it sit | Use no water at that tap for about six hours, often overnight | Standing water shows what your plumbing adds |
| 3. First draw | Fill the first bottle with the very first cold water out | Measures water that stood in your plumbing |
| 4. Flushed sample | Fill the later bottle as the kit directs | The kit asks for both samples |
| 5. Paperwork | Fill in the form with the sampling date and time | The lab needs a chain-of-custody record |
| 6. Mail it | Seal the box and drop it at a Post Office with the prepaid label | Return postage is free |
Don’t run the water through a filter, and don’t use hot water. If you have a faucet filter, take it off before sampling or use a tap without one.
How do you read the results?
The lab mails results within 30 days of testing. Compare your number with the 15 parts per billion action level. For scale, DEP’s 2025 sampling of high-risk homes found a 90th percentile of 10 ppb, with 16 of 326 homes above 15 ppb (2025 water quality report). If either number is high, owners can check what the city has on file for the service line and whether the replacement program reaches their street. Tenants can share the results with the owner.
What can you do before the results come back?
DEP’s lead FAQ gives simple habits (DEP lead FAQ). Run the cold tap for at least 30 seconds, until it feels noticeably colder, and longer first thing in the morning. Drink, cook and mix baby formula with cold water only. Never boil water to remove lead, because boiling can concentrate it. Clean the faucet aerator now and then. If you buy a filter, DEP says to choose one certified for lead.
Is this the same as DEP’s lead monitoring program?
No. The free kit is for any household that asks. DEP also runs a separate lead and copper monitoring program for homes that meet its plumbing criteria. People who pre-register and complete it get a $100 credit on their water bill (Water Board rate schedule). Those samples feed the citywide results in the yearly report on tap water quality.
Questions people ask
Does the kit cost anything?
No. The kit, the lab analysis and the return postage are free under the Free Residential Lead Testing Program.
Can one household order more than one kit?
At present it is one kit per household. Landlords who want to test a whole building request one for each apartment.
How long must the water sit before sampling?
About six hours with no use at that tap, which for most people means overnight. The NYC Water video shows the timing and both samples.
What if my result is above 15 ppb?
Keep using cold, flushed water for drinking and cooking, and use a filter certified for lead. If you own the building, check the service line records. If you rent, give the owner a copy.
Can a business or day care use the kit?
No. 311 says the program is for homes, not for day cares or businesses.
How this plate was drawn
How to order, kit limits, delivery and result times come from 311’s lead article, checked 11 Nov 2026. The sampling steps follow the NYC Water video and the kit’s own approach. The kit’s printed instructions always come first. DEP’s separate program page for the kit returned an error when we checked, so we relied on 311.
Sources
- NYC311 — Lead in Drinking Water · ordering, one per household, delivery and result times · checked 11 Nov 2026
- NYC DEP — Lead in Household Plumbing FAQs · flushing, cold water only, boiling, certified filters · checked 11 Nov 2026
- DEP — yearly water quality report for 2025, tap sampling table · 2025 tap sampling results and action level · checked 11 Nov 2026
- NYC Water Board — Rate Schedule, effective July 1, 2026 · $100 monitoring program credit · checked 11 Nov 2026
- NYC Water (YouTube) — How to Take a Sample Using the Lead Test Kit · sampling walk-through · checked 11 Nov 2026
Plate W-3 · revised 11 Nov 2026