Biden Demands US Cities Replace Lead Pipes NationwideExBulletin

President Biden speaks during an event at the Milwaukee Department of Public Works, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, to discuss his administration's progress in replacing lead pipes in Wisconsin and across the country. Susan Walsh/AP .

switch caption Susan Walsh/AP

WASHINGTON A decade after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis raised alarms about the lingering dangers of lead in tap water, President Biden on Tuesday set a 10-year deadline for cities in the countries to replace their lead pipes, finalizing an aggressive approach to ensuring drinking water is safe for all Americans.

Biden announced the final Environmental Protection Agency rule during a visit to the swing state of Wisconsin in the final month of a tight presidential campaign. The ad highlights a drinking water issue that Kamala Harris prioritized as vice president and during her presidential campaign. The new rule replaces a looser standard set by former President Donald Trump's administration, which did not include a universal requirement to replace lead pipes.

“My friends, what good is a government if it cannot protect public health? Biden asked a crowd of union workers in a cavernous Department of Public Works warehouse in Milwaukee. The city has the fifth most lead pipes in the country, according to the EPA.

Decades after the dangers of lead pipes became clear, more than 9 million lead pipes remain in use, a fact Biden called shameful.

We are finally addressing an issue that should have been addressed long ago in this country,” he said. We are presenting ourselves as a partner in making this happen.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Milwaukee is one of several cities nationwide taking steps to remove lead pipes from their drinking water. Officials are using money from the federal Infrastructure Act to speed up work to replace lead pipes and meet a goal of removing all lead pipes within 10 years, up from an initial deadline of 60 years.

Everyone wants this lead out, Regan told reporters. Science has been clear for decades that there is no safe level of lead in our drinking water.

The new EPA rule is the most stringent revision to lead-in-water standards in about three decades. Lead, a heavy metal used in pipes, paints, munitions and many other products, is a neurotoxin that can cause a range of disorders from behavioral problems to brain damage. Lead lowers the IQ of children, delays their development, and increases blood pressure in adults.

The EPA estimates that this stricter standard will prevent up to 900,000 infants from having low birth weight and prevent up to 1,500 premature deaths per year from heart disease.

The new regulations are stricter than those proposed last fall and require water systems to ensure lead concentrations do not exceed an action level of 10 parts per billion, up from 15 parts per billion under the current standard. If elevated lead levels are detected, water systems should inform the public about ways to protect their health, including the use of water filters, and take steps to reduce lead exposure while while simultaneously working to replace all lead pipes.

Lead pipes often have the greatest impact on low-income urban areas. They are most commonly found in older industrial areas of the country, including large cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Detroit, and Milwaukee. The rule also revises how lead amounts are measured, which could significantly increase the number of cities and water systems with excessive lead levels, the EPA said.

To help communities comply, the agency is making an additional $2.6 billion available for drinking water infrastructure through the bipartisan Infrastructure Act. The agency is also awarding $35 million in competitive grants for programs to reduce lead in drinking water.

The 10-year deadline won't begin until three years from now, giving water utilities time to prepare. A limited number of cities with large volumes of lead pipes could benefit from a longer period of time to comply with the new standard.

Lead pipes can corrode and contaminate drinking water; removing them significantly reduces the risk of a crisis. In Flint, a change in the city's drinking water source more than a decade ago made it more corrosive, increasing lead levels in tap water. Flint was the highest-profile example among many cities that have struggled with stubbornly high lead levels, including Newark, New Jersey, Benton Harbor, Michigan, and Washington, DC.

The original rule on lead and copper for drinking water was adopted by the EPA more than 30 years ago. The rules have significantly reduced lead in tap water, but have loopholes that allow cities to take little action when lead levels are too high.

“The EPA's action today is a step forward in protecting the health of tens of millions of Americans from this scourge,” said Erik Olson, health and food expert at the Resource Defense Council natural, a non-profit organization.

However, extracting the lead pipes from the ground will be a huge challenge. The infrastructure law approved in 2021 included $15 billion to help cities replace their lead pipes, but the total cost will be several times higher. The requirement also comes as the Biden administration proposes tough new drinking water standards for forever harmful chemicals called PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These standards will cost billions of dollars.

The American Water Works Association, which represents water utilities, said it supports the EPA's goals but warned that removing lead pipes “poses cost concerns.” Ultimately, most of the costs will fall on consumers through higher water bills, said David LaFrance, CEO of the AWWA. .

Fifteen Republican attorneys general, led by Kris Kobach of Kansas, criticized the EPA rule as unworkable, underfunded and unnecessary. GOP officials expressed concern that property owners in some locations might have to pay to replace sections of pipe under their property, a requirement Kobach said Congress had not authorized. Federal grants worth billions of dollars will help communities replace their pipes, the EPA said, but cost decisions ultimately belong to local utilities.

Regan said the benefits of the rule far outweigh the costs. We believe we have done this in a very strategic, legally sound and science-backed way,” he said.

Another obstacle is finding the lead pipes. The first pipe inventories are expected this month, and many cities have said they don't know what substances their pipes are made of. Without knowing their location, it's difficult to replace them effectively, according to Eric Schwartz, co-founder of BlueConduit, a company created in response to the Flint crisis that helps cities find their lead pipes.

Avenel Joseph, interim executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, called access to safe, affordable water a basic human right.

For generations, lead exposure has silently denied this right to millions of children, especially those living in communities of color,” she said. “With these regulations in place, our country is finally saying : no more.”

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