Source: Bill Pugliano / Getty
A new rule aims to remove lead pipes from city water systems to ensure drinking water is safe for all Americans.
President Joe Biden proposed the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation this week in Milwaukee, WI, the city with the fifth-highest number of lead pipes in the nation. He’s setting a 10-year deadline for all cities to replace their lead pipes. Removing lead pipes reduces the chance of a crisis like the one experienced in Flint, MI more than a decade ago.
Lead is a heavy metal used in pipes, paints, ammunition and many other products. It’s also a neurotoxin that can cause disorders and brain damage. This rule is the most stringent overhaul of lead-in-water standards in about three decades. The previous rules significantly reduced lead in tap water but contained loopholes to allow cities to take little action when lead levels rose too high.
“We know that over 9 million legacy lead pipes continue to deliver water to homes across our country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told NBC News. “But the science has been clear for decades: There is no safe level of lead in our drinking water.’’
The EPA estimates this new standard will prevent up to 900,000 infants from having low birthweight and avoid up to 1,500 premature deaths a year from heart disease.
Under the new rule, cities must make sure water systems don’t have lead concentrations that exceed an action level of 10 parts per billion, down from 15 parts per billion under the current standard. If there are high lead levels, cities must tell the public and share ways to protect their health including the use of water filters and take action to reduce lead exposure while working to replace the lead pipes.
Research finds lead pipes impact low-income urban areas the most. They are often found in older parts of the country including major cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. The new rule also changes how lead amounts are measured which could reveal more cities that have excessive levels of lead.
To help cities meet the new standards, the EPA will make available an additional $2.6 billion for drinking water infrastructure through the bipartisan infrastructure law. The agency is also giving out $35 million in grants for programs to reduce lead in drinking water.
The 10-year timeframe won’t start for three years to give utilities time to prepare.
“I think there is very broad support for doing this,” Erik Olson, a health and food expert at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, said. “Nobody wants to be drinking lead-contaminated tap water or basically sipping their water out of a lead straw, which is what millions of people are doing today.”
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