Push detailed to tighten rules for lead in drinking water

WASHINGTON » The Biden administration took steps Thursday aimed at reducing lead in drinking water, releasing $2.9 billion in infrastructure bill funds for lead-pipe removal and announcing plans by the Environmental Protection Agency to impose stricter rules to limit exposure to the health hazard.

Vice President Kamala Harris made the case for the administration’s push to eliminate every lead service line in the country, reiterating the administration’s pledge that the effort would create jobs across the country and begin to undo the harm pollution has caused in poor, often minority communities.

“The challenge that we face is, without any question, great. Lead is built into our cities. It is laid under our roads and it is installed in our homes,” Harris said at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington.

The White House estimates as many as 10 million homes in the U.S. get water through lead service lines, which connect buildings to water mains and can leach particles of the neurotoxin into drinking water and potentially cause severe developmental and neurological issues, especially when consumed by children. In recent years, the risks facing cities with lead service lines have come into focus, most notably after the Flint, Mich., water crisis.

While the EPA considers how to strengthen the nation’s lead-in-water rules, it will allow the previous Trump administration’s overhaul of lead regulations to move forward, officials said Thursday. The Biden EPA’s requirements are expected to be finalized by 2024, and would require the replacement of remaining lead drinking-water pipes “as quickly as is feasible.”

“The science on lead is settled — there is no safe level of exposure and it is time to remove this risk to support thriving people and vibrant communities,” said EPA administrator Michael Regan in a statement.

Some environmental advocates were lukewarm to the administration’s announcement, saying the 10-year goal for replacing lead lines and other provisions were vague on commitments and detail.