WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden has announced that the Environmental Protection Agency is issuing a final rule that will require drinking water systems nationwide to replace lead service lines within 10 years.
EPA is also investing an additional $2.6 billion for drinking water upgrades and lead pipe replacements, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
During his visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Tuesday, Biden announced new actions from his Investing in America agenda to connect Milwaukee residents to good-paying jobs, including replacing lead pipes and upgrading infrastructure through the Milwaukee Workforce Hub.
The city's Hub is one of nine Investing in America Workforce Hubs launched by the Biden Administration.
Infrastructure projects totaling nearly $100 million are in the works across the City of Milwaukee. As part of these investments, the city has begun replacing 100 percent of its lead service lines, reducing the timeline for replacement from 60 years to 10 years.
The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) require more rigorous testing of drinking water and a lower threshold requiring communities to take action to protect people from lead exposure in water. In addition, the final rule improves communication within communities so that families are better informed about the risk of lead in drinking water, the location of lead pipes, and plans for replacing them. This final rule is part of the President's commitment to replace every lead pipe in the country within a decade, making sure that all communities can turn on the tap and drink clean water.
Lead poisoning can cause serious health effects, especially in children. It can cause irreversible damage to cognitive development, damage the kidneys, slow learning, and cause cardiovascular disease. Lead exposure can also impact pregnancies, increasing the risk of low birthweights or even miscarriage. Due to decades of inequitable infrastructure development and underinvestment, lead poisoning disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color.
The EPA estimates that this final rule will prevent up to 900,000 infants from being born with low birthweight, stop up to 200,000 IQ points lost in children, and reduce up to 1,500 cases of premature death from heart disease every year.
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