There’s much at stake in the fight for clean water this year. That’s why Food & Water Watch is ramping up our campaigns to improve our public water systems and make water service safe and affordable for all.
First up in 2024: Getting lead out of our water.
In November, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a long-overdue update to federal water quality regulations for lead in drinking water. While this proposal lays out an ambitious vision for clean water, and these regulations are an improvement, much more must be done to ensure that every community has safe water.
As the EPA moves to eliminate all lead service lines, it must ensure that these pipes are not replaced with another health threat: toxic, fossil fuel-based plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and chlorinated PVC pipes.
Use any link in this email to be taken to the regulations.gov page.
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Click the blue “Submit Comment” box at the bottom of the page.
It's important to personalize your message, but here is some sample comment language to get you started:
The EPA’s lead-in-water proposal is progress, but still not enough. To ensure that every community has safe, lead-free water, EPA must replace all lead service lines within 10 years with no exceptions and at no cost to individual households. EPA must ban PVC and chlorinated PVC service lines, as communities should not replace one toxic pipe with another. The action level must be lowered to no more than 5 ppb. The EPA must also protect all public schools and daycares with filter-first policies and strong testing requirements, and it must ensure just and safe removal and disposal of lead service lines, including prohibiting the export of lead service lines to other countries with weaker environmental laws.
Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that can harm every major system in the human body, and lead service lines are the single biggest source of lead contamination in drinking water.
Removing toxic water lines is a huge environmental justice priority, so it must be done right and equitably for everyone, regardless of a community’s size, number of lead pipes, or a household’s income.
No one should have to worry about whether the water in our homes and schools is safe to drink. Every community and every person needs safe, lead-free drinking water. It’s our most basic human right.
Onward,
Mary Grant
Public Water For All Campaign Director
Food & Water Watch
Food & Water Watch and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Action, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate.
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