If your Southern California home was built before the mid-1990s, your water is almost certainly running through galvanized steel pipes. They were the standard for decades.

But galvanized pipes corrode from the inside out. Rust and mineral deposits build up year after year until the opening is barely the width of a pencil.

That brown tint when you first turn on the faucet? That's iron, lead, and decades of corrosion flowing into every glass your family pours. And SoCal's hard water makes it happen faster than you'd think. By the time you notice the low pressure or the pinhole leaks, the damage is already done.