EPA to propose tightening of Trump rule on lead pipes

WASHINGTON — The EPA has decided to implement the Trump administration’s lead and copper rule while proposing additional new requirements intended to address concerns that it doesn’t go far enough to protect the public.

The agency plans to announce that approach Thursday along with a number of other actions across the government to remediate lead paint in homes and address lead contamination in drinking water, according to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition that they not be identified.

In its closing weeks in office, the Trump administration finalized the first updates in decades to lead and copper rules for water utilities. Under the updated rule, utilities that exceed 10 parts of lead per billion have to work with state regulators on plans to replace lead service lines and at 15 parts per billion communities would be required to replace at least 3 percent of known or suspected lead lines per year.

Critics suggested that represented a slower replacement rate than a previous 7 percent requirement. THEN-EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler defended the proposal by saying that it also closed a number of loopholes that had kept the actual replacement rate much lower.

In previewing Thursday’s announcement, a senior administration official said the Biden administration is committed to addressing lead service lines and has serious concerns about the trigger levels included in the Trump rule, as well as the lack of a requirement that 100 percent of lead lines be replaced. However, the official said the rule does have near-term public health protections, such as a requirement that utilities inventory their lead service lines by 2024.

That requirement is key due to uncertainty over just how many lead service lines exist and where they are. Estimates are that the country has 6 million to 10 million lead service lines, with disadvantaged communities particularly at risk.

While the Trump rule will go into effect, the EPA plans to propose its own rule that will include a requirement that 100 percent of lead service lines are replaced as quickly as feasible, with an approximate timeline of 10 years.