Aging Plumbing in Green Valley's Original Neighborhoods
Green Valley was one of the first large master-planned communities in the American Southwest, with development beginning in the mid-1980s. Homes built during Green Valley's first decade of growth, from roughly 1985 through 1995, now have plumbing systems that are 30 to 40 years old. Many of these homes were built with copper supply lines that have been exposed to Las Vegas Valley hard water for decades, thinning pipe walls through mineral corrosion over time. Some homes from this era also contain polybutylene pipe, a gray plastic material installed widely in the late 1970s through mid-1990s that is known to fail without warning. For Green Valley homeowners in original homes, a plumbing inspection is a practical step before a small issue becomes a significant repair.
