More than 20% of Japan's water pipes have passed their legal service life of 40 years, according to local media

That is rather low. The US still has some wooden(!) water pipes in use, as well as other plumbing installed in the late 19th/early 20th century.

This is the reason that installing a 2-mile bus lane on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco took several years. They took advantage of the opportunity to replace the hollowed out logs that had served as one of the city’s most critical water mains since the 1906 quake.

Urban trees in Montreal (and presumably other cities) only survive through the summer because of the water they get from leaky pipes.

> Maple trees drink about 50 litres of water every day, and it seems some of their hydration is coming from Montreal’s crumbling infrastructure.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/montreals-leaky-pipe...

Meanwhile, in Europe: https://romanempiretimes.com/aqua-virgo-a-2000-year-roman-aq...

When the sections are stored above ground, they can make for some really gnarly skate parks. You've heard of the half-pipe, now see the attempts at full-pipe!

wood is better than lead