WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten years after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis raised alarm over the continuing dangers of lead in tap water, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that cities across the U.S. will replace lead pipes. The deadline was set at 10 years and the final decision was made. It is a proactive approach aimed at ensuring drinking water safety for all Americans.
Biden announced the final rules for the Environmental Protection Agency during a visit to the battleground state of Wisconsin in the final month of a closely contested presidential campaign. The announcement highlighted the issue of safe drinking water, which Kamala Harris has prioritized as vice president and during her presidential campaign. The new rules replace lax standards set by former President Donald Trump’s administration, which did not include universal requirements for lead pipe replacement.
“Folks, what good is government if we can’t protect public health?” Biden asked a crowd of union members in a cavernous Public Works Department warehouse in Milwaukee. The city has the fifth-highest number of lead pipes in the nation, according to the EPA.
Decades after the dangers of lead pipes became clear, more than 9 million lead pipes are still in use, a fact Biden called shameful.
“We are finally addressing an issue in this country that should have been addressed a long time ago,” he said. “We show up as partners to get it done.”
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Milwaukee is one of many cities across the country taking steps to remove lead pipes from drinking water. Officials are using funding from the federal infrastructure law to accelerate lead pipe replacement efforts, with the goal of removing all lead pipes within 10 years of the original 60-year deadline.
“Everyone wants to see this lead solved,” Regan told reporters. “Science has shown for decades that there is no safe level of lead in our drinking water.”
The new EPA rule is the strongest overhaul of lead in water standards in nearly 30 years. Lead, a heavy metal used in pipes, paint, ammunition, and many other products, is a neurotoxin that can cause a variety of disorders, from behavioral problems to brain damage. Lead lowers IQ scores in children, stunts growth, and increases blood pressure in adults.
EPA estimates that stricter standards could prevent up to 900,000 infants from having low birth weight and up to 1,500 premature deaths from heart disease each year.
Cities across the U.S. have a 10-year deadline to replace lead pipes. Associated Press correspondent Donna Warder reports.
The new regulations are stricter than those proposed last fall and require water systems to ensure lead levels do not exceed an “action level” of 10 parts per billion, up from the current standard of 15 parts per billion. If high levels of lead are found, water systems must inform the public about ways to protect their health, such as using water filters, and take steps to reduce lead exposure, along with replacing all lead pipes. yeah.
Lead pipes often have the greatest impact on low-income urban areas. These are most commonly found in older industrial areas of the country, including major cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Detroit, and Milwaukee. The rule also changes how lead is measured, potentially significantly expanding the number of cities and water systems where excess lead is detected, the EPA said.
To help communities comply, officials are providing an additional $2.6 billion 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 will start within three years, giving water utilities time to prepare. A limited number of cities with large amounts of lead pipes could be given a longer period of time to meet the new standards.
Lead pipes can corrode and contaminate drinking water. Removing them greatly reduces the likelihood of a crisis. In Flint, changes to the city’s drinking water source more than a decade ago made it more corrosive, causing lead levels in the water to skyrocket. Flint was the most high-profile example of a number of cities struggling with stubbornly high lead levels, including Newark, New Jersey, Benton Harbor, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.
The original lead and copper rules for drinking water were established by the EPA more than 30 years ago. The rule significantly reduced lead in tap water, but included loopholes that gave cities little action if lead levels got too high.
“EPA’s action today is a quantum leap forward in protecting the health of tens of millions of Americans from this catastrophe,” said Eric Olson, a health and food expert at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. ” he said.
However, actually removing the lead pipes from underground would be an extremely difficult task. The infrastructure law approved in 2021 provided $15 billion to help cities replace lead pipes, but the total cost would be several times higher. The requirement also comes as the Biden administration is proposing strict new drinking water standards for hazardous “permanent chemicals” called PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). These standards 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 “presents cost challenges.” AWWA CEO David LaFrance said most of the costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers in higher water bills. .
Fifteen Republican attorneys general, led by Kansas’ Kris Kobach, criticized the EPA rule as “unworkable, underfunded and unnecessary.” Republican officials have said they are concerned that homeowners in some areas may have to pay to replace sections of pipe on their property, but Kobach said the He said the requirement was not recognized by Congress. Billions of dollars in federal grants will help communities replace water pipes, but cost decisions are ultimately up to local power companies, according to the EPA.
Regan said the benefits of this rule far outweigh the costs. “We believe we did it in a very strategic way that was backed by science, a legally sound way,” he said.
Another hurdle is finding lead pipes. The first pipe inventories are expected to be submitted this month, but many cities say they don’t know what material the pipes are made of. According to Eric Schwartz, co-founder of Blue Conduit, a company founded in response to the Flint crisis to help find lead pipes in the city, the position If they don’t know, it’s difficult to replace them efficiently.
Avenel Joseph, interim executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said access to safe and affordable water is a fundamental human right.
“For generations, lead exposure has silently deprived millions of children of this right, especially those living in communities of color,” she said. “With this regulation in place, our country has finally said ‘no more.'”
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Phyllis reported from St. Louis. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Milwaukee contributed to this article.
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