Tell the EPA: Protect Americans from toxic lead

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a new rule to clean up America’s drinking water by replacing most remaining lead pipes in the next 10 years.

This rule is long overdue — no amount of lead exposure is safe, yet 9.2 million households still have lead pipes or service lines.

But it doesn’t go far enough: Some cities would get longer than 10 years to replace all their lead pipes, and homeowners or renters could be on the hook for some of the costs.

Send a message to the EPA: Tell the agency that you support a strong rule that requires *all* lead pipes to be removed in the next 10 years and doesn’t make individuals or families pay for it.

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Message to the EPA

EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0801-0036

National Primary Drink...

Lead is toxic — it can damage the brain and nervous system, as well as cause cardiovascular issues. And it’s particularly dangerous for young children whose bodies are not yet fully developed. So I appreciate the EPA's attention to getting lead out of drinking water across America.

Overall, the EPA's proposed rule is strong. But there are two big issues that I want you to address before finalizing it:

1) In the current proposal, some cities are given more than 10 years to remove their lead service lines. More than a decade of lead in drinking water is long enough to harm another generation of children and increase health risks in adults. Please make 10 years the deadline for everywhere in America to remove lead from service lines.

2) Some homeowners or renters could be on the hook for replacement costs. This would cause particular harm to many of the communities who deal with disproportionately more lead contamination, who often have lower incomes. Please require water utilities to cover the full cost of lead service line replacement.

Thank you for your efforts to get lead out of our water. Please strengthen your proposed rule so that lead is removed quickly and equitably, and then finalize it as soon as possible.

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