The materials in common use today — copper, PVC and CPVC, PEX, ABS, galvanized steel and cast iron — can mostly all be connected to each other with appropriate fittings.

A majority of the water systems in the ground now were put in place in the late 1940's and 50's. The types of pipes in those aging systems include lead, galvanized steel, concrete and cast iron.

That's typically copper or ductile iron on the utility side and copper, ductile iron, galvanized iron, PEX, or PVC on the private side. Yellow is Galvanized requiring replacement.

This requirement resulted in some specialization of pipe types, so you may find a variety of pipe materials used in a single home. In urban areas, residential plumbing pipes likely link to city ...

The majority of Surprise’s water line system is made of PVC and ductile iron, Water Resource Management Director Mike Boule explained.

This video from Charlotte Pipe shows a sound test of various DWV plumbing systems. Materials tested are cast iron soil pipe, solid wall PVC and foam core PVC, with and without insulation products.

Cast iron has a 110-year useful service life, according to the American Water Works Association, so most of the 1,000 miles of that pipe within the city still has years left.