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EPA Defends Biden-Era Rule Requiring Lead Pipe Replacement Within 10 Years
The EPA rule lowers lead action levels to 10 ppb and requires lead pipe replacement within 10 years, aiming to protect up to 900,000 infants and prevent 1,500 heart-related deaths annually.
- The Environmental Protection Agency told a federal appeals court in Washington it will defend the lead service line rule, arguing utilities can be required to replace entire lead pipes, despite industry challenges.
- The Biden administration finalized the overhaul in 2024 that replaced standards enacted more than 30 years ago, after EPA concluded lead pipe replacement was the only feasible solution to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
- The rule tightens testing and action thresholds by lowering the lead action trigger to 10 parts per billion, revising measurement methods, and EPA estimated it protects 900,000 infants and avoids 1,500 premature deaths.
- Water utilities have a three-year preparatory period before the 10-year replacement deadline, some cities with high lead-pipe counts got longer timelines, and federal funds exist to help communities.
- Lead pipes are most common in older industrial cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee, where lead's health effects include neurodevelopmental harm and increased blood pressure, with estimates of about 9 million versus roughly 4 million pipes after methodological changes.
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Leaning Left6Leaning Right4Center48Last UpdatedBias Distribution83% Center
Bias Distribution
- 83% of the sources are Center
83% Center
C 83%
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