US Water Service Line Failures: Insights From 20 Years of Data

Key Takeaways This study analyzes 20 years (2006–2025) of nationwide water service line failure and replacement data covering more than 76,000 real‐world incidents. Multiple survival analysis methods such as Kaplan–Meier, Weibull models, and random‐survival‐forest machine learning were used to assess failure risk in different pipe materials. Municipalities and property owners are encouraged to inventory their current service line materials and put measures in place to assist in managing high‐risk types to reduce failure rates, improve reliability, and lower long‐term maintenance costs.