EPIC supports principles for Lead Service Line Replacements

Photo credit: Jacek Dylag via Unsplash

Replacing toxic lead pipes is vital to ensuring that clean drinking water is accessible for all people. With lead service lines delivering our drinking water, there will always be a risk of people consuming unnecessary amounts of this harmful heavy metal which can lead to adverse health effects. With $43 billion going to states for water infrastructure and $15 billion specifically for lead pipe removal through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), it is more important than ever to ensure lead pipes are replaced quickly and equitably.

At EPIC, our mission is speed. The reason why this matters so much to us and why we are impatient with the status quo: The faster toxic lead pipes are replaced in any given community, the faster people can have lead-free water - and ultimately, the faster people can reduce this unnecessary health risk for themselves and their children. With the new influx of infrastructure dollars, the problem of lead is more solvable now than ever before. We may not have to wait decades or centuries to fix this problem that has already been around for far too long. In partnership with NRDC and other advocates, EPIC has agreed to a set of principles that we believe will make lead service line replacement more equitable, efficient, and protective of health - and help ensure lead pipe replacement happens faster too. People with lead-contaminated water shouldn’t have to wait a moment longer to have safe water from their kitchen taps, and EPIC will keep working until this happens.