Lead is a metal with many attractive features such as abundance, low cost, and useful physical properties. Lead and its compounds have been widely used in a variety of products including paint, ceramics, pipes, solders, gasoline, batteries, and cosmetics. On the other hand, lead is a highly toxic substance, exposure to which can produce a wide range of adverse health effects. Consequently, extensive studies aimed at assessing the degree of awareness of its toxicity and determining the levels and forms of lead in various matrices have been made. In many countries regulatory standards together with education and monitoring system have helped to minimize or eliminate the amount of lead in consumer products and occupational settings. But, a requisite step to prevent or reduce lead exposure is creating awareness among the general public, especially the most vulnerable groups. To this end, the lead-acid battery charging garages and workshops located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were considered key routes of human exposure to lead and sources of lead to the environment. Consequently, these settings were surveyed to gain understanding on the level of awareness by workers and handling and disposal of exhausted batteries. It was concluded that lead is widely emitted to the environment by lead-acid battery charging garages and workshops in Addis Ababa. The results of the survey study partly warrant the determination of lead in water because water is the ultimate recipient of all forms of pollution in the environment. Hence, the second phase of this study involved determination of lead in piped drinking water in Addis Ababa. From the water analysis conducted, the mean concentrations of lead in raw waters from Dire, Gefersa and Legedadi reservoirs were 30.18 ± 3.44, 14.98 ± 1.55 and 21.46 ± 1.73 (mean ± Standard deviation, SD) gPb/L, respectively. All samples taken from the Akaki ground water reservoirs contained higher values viii than WHO recommended level of 10 g Pb/L. However, the lead level in samples collected from the reservoirs receiving water from spring and spring-well was found within the WHO recommended limit. The first drawn water samples were observed to contain higher Pb content than the second and the third drawn samples in a remarkable segment of the reservoirs connected to Akakai (71.43%), Geferesa (50%), and Legedadi (81.8%), which showed significant accumulation of lead within the water delivery system. About 89.29%, 80.65% and 86.49% of households supplied water from Akaki boreholes, Gefersa and Legedadi, respectively, were observed to receive mean Pb concentrations higher than the permissible level of 10 gPb/L. The mean concentrations of Pb in the samples taken from the treatment plants right after the treatment were (mean ± SD): 15.66 ± 2.31 (Gefersa) and 13.85 ± 1.73 (Legedadi). In most samples drawn from randomly selected households, the mean concentrations of Pb increased beyond the concentrations determined in the respective reservoirs (6.70 ± 0.30 - 53.71 ± 4.20, mean ± SD), showing Potential contamination from the water distribution system.