President Biden Delivers on Promise to Replace All Toxic Lead Pipes
For Immediate Release: November 30, 2023
Media Contact: Maureen Cunningham, maureen@policyinnovation.org, 518-469-4748
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), which will strengthen the existing regulations in several key areas, especially related to timelines and incentives for faster replacement. The full EPA announcement can be found on the EPA website.
“It took decades to install millions of toxic lead pipes in homes, neighborhoods, and communities across the country, but with these proposed updates to the federal regulations, we will be speeding up their replacement over the next 10 years,” said Maureen Cunningham, Chief Strategy Officer & Director of Water at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC). “The Biden-Harris Administration cemented its already-historic promises in a monumental rule, by proposing a 10-year mandate for full lead service line replacement, incentivizing faster replacement, and ensuring enhanced outreach for communities in crisis. EPIC commends the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for fast-tracking lead pipe replacement after decades of collective inaction, and is thrilled to partner on the nationwide goal of lead-free water for the health of our children and future generations.”
The proposed Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) will be published in the federal register in the coming days, followed by a 60-day public comment period. First promulgated in 1991 and revised in 2021, the LCR regulates lead and copper in public drinking water systems. The proposed improvements will include the launch of a ten-year timeline for all water systems to replace both private and public lead service lines, specific incentives for water systems who replace lead pipes on a faster timeline, increased notifications in communities with lead exceedances and violations, mandated updates to lead service line inventories, publicly available replacement plans, a reduced action level (AL) from 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb, and the removal of the trigger level (TL) created in the 2021 revisions. The rule employs a cost-benefit analysis as mandated by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and concludes that the health benefits of replacing lead pipes far outweigh the costs. The rule builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s previous commitments to replace the nation’s pipes in 10 years, including through the Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan of 2021, the $15 billion in funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the network of Water Technical Assistance (WaterTA) made available through the EPA, most recently through the announcement of the Get the Lead Out (GLO) Initiative.
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About Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC):
The Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) builds policies that deliver spectacular improvement in the speed and scale of environmental progress. When it comes to toxic lead pipes, EPIC is focused on advancing the policy, practice, and momentum needed to get the lead out quickly, efficiently, and equitably to ensure more people have access to safe drinking water. EPIC acknowledges that lead service lines are only one source of lead contamination, but is working towards full lead service line replacement as a necessary step towards lead-free water and lead-free households. With a team of engineers, policy analysts, data scientists, and former and current municipal officials, EPIC is working to achieve more "Newark moments" celebrating the success of a community replacing 100 percent of their lead pipes in just a few years and fewer moments when communities are left behind without the resources or know-how to replace theirs.
Related to our efforts to replace lead pipes over the coming decade, EPIC is:
A member of the White House Get the Lead Out Partnership launched in January 2023 as a key effort in ensuring equitable and efficient inventory and replacement efforts;
An EPA-designated national Environmental Finance Center to connect communities to federal funds for water infrastructure and lead service line replacement;
A member of the newly-launched Community-Based Public Private Partnership (CBP3) in Wausau, Wisconsin focused on innovative contracting and procurement and cross-disciplinary partnerships to prioritize socioeconomic and community benefits while replacing lead pipes; and
A member of Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative, a joint effort of national public health, water utility, environmental, labor, consumer, housing, and state and local governmental organizations focused on accelerating lead service line replacement efforts.
EPIC’s work on lead service line replacement includes a commitment to help get the lead out in 50 communities by 2027 with efficient and equitable plans; highlighting best practices and policies to help put more communities on a path to replacing lead pipes in a decade; and tracking and analyzing federal funding for lead service line replacement.
For more information, please see EPIC’s webpages on lead service line replacement and water equity.