White House Mandates 10-Year Deadline for Replacing Lead Pipes

The Biden administration mandated that all water systems nationwide replace lead pipes within 10 years in a final rule announced Tuesday.

“We know that over 9 million legacy lead pipes continue to deliver water to homes across our country, but the science has been clear for decades — there is no safe level of lead in our drinking water,” stated Michael Regan, MPA, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in a call with reporters.

The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) also will require more intensive testing of drinking water and a lower threshold for communities to act to protect their residents from lead-tainted water, the EPA noted. The rule will help increase awareness to ensure families understand the risks of lead in drinking water, where lead pipes exist, and how they will be replaced.

President Biden will travel to Milwaukee to announce the final rule. In 2021, he pledged to replace every lead pipe in America in a decade in his Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan; he remains committed to that promise, according to the White House.

“This is a matter of public health, a matter of environmental justice, a matter of basic human rights, and it is finally being met with the urgency it demands,” Regan said, adding that both the president and vice president consider action on this issue a “moral imperative.”

Regan noted that lead exposure can cause severe harm to children’s mental and physical development, delay learning, and irreversibly damage the brain. “In adults, lead can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function, and cancer,” he added.

Every year, this final rule will prevent up to 900,000 infants from being born with low birthweight, stop up to 200,000 IQ points lost in children, and reduce up to 1,500 cases of premature death from heart disease, according to EPA estimates.

The EPA also announced Tuesday $2.6 billion in new monies for infrastructure funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to deliver on the administration’s goals. As a result of the dedicated funding through this law, “hundreds of thousands” of Americans have already had their lead pipes replaced, according to the White House. Many cities — including Milwaukee; Detroit; Denver; and Erie, Pennsylvania — have begun replacing lead pipes and are on track to meet the EPA 10-year deadline.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also said it is investing more than $416 million in new grants that prioritize “hazard reduction to protect children” in addition to improving home health, energy efficiency, and community safety. This includes funding to address lead-based paints, such as implementing training and partnerships to find and rein in lead-based paint hazards and coordinate home inspections.

During the press call, a senior administration official was asked whether exceptions to the rule, seen in the draft stages, could lead to some communities not seeing pipes replaced for as long as 40 to 50 years. The official said that the final rule is “significantly more stringent” than the proposed rule and that “99% of the cities will meet the deadline.”

For the remaining 1%, the administration will “aggressively pursue a timeline that stays in line with the president’s vision.”

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