Drinking Water Crisis (Part 2) - Lead pipes in drinking water crisis
With help from the federal government, states and cities might be able to move faster. One issue is regulation. The EPA last updated the Lead and Copper Rule, which regulates how quickly lead pipes should be replaced, in 1991. It required that 7% of lead pipes in a given location be replaced each year, though that was apparently not enforced. An amendment the EPA sent to the White House in July, still awaiting signature, would relax that rate to 3% a year. (It would also tighten the rules to speed up replacements in schools.) Mr. Olson called the proposed changes "alarming."
Mr. Olson said cities want to make the changes, but replacing 10 meters of service lines can cost $50 billion (bulk replacements are cheaper). This summer, the Democratic-controlled House twice passed bills to start paying for it-first a $22.5 billion authorization, then an appropriations bill that set aside $1 billion for this fiscal year. The proposed infrastructure bill also includes money to remove lead pipes. But in the Senate, those plans have so far gone nowhere.
A Joe Biden administration could move things along. The EPA may again set a higher standard and may order belated public hearings on the issue, perhaps in hard-hit cities like Flint. A bill co-sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, would require all lead pipes to be replaced within a decade. His timeline may seem overly ambitious.