This year, the EPA proposed a game-changing plan to replace 100% of lead pipes in the United States.

I’m a new mom, and sometimes it feels like the worry list never ends. We all have enough to worry about without adding old lead pipes and toxic exposure to the list.

But unfortunately across the United States, an estimated 9.2 million homes still get their drinking water from lead pipes.

There is no safe level of lead exposure. For young children, even the smallest amount of lead — like a paint chip half the size of your pinky fingernail — can harm their development or be fatal. In adults, the toxic metal can cause kidney problems, heart disease, high blood pressure, reproductive health problems and weakened bones.

These dangers are magnified in communities of color and low-income communities that lack the resources to replace old lead pipes. This is due to many factors, including discriminatory housing practices and disinvestment that have barred access to wealth and opportunity for many people in these communities over decades. It’s an environmental injustice, and we have the tools necessary to fix it.

EDF has been working to eliminate lead from our lives for over 50 years. In the 1970s, EDF began advocating for the removal of lead from gasoline, a decades-long process and ultimate victory for public health. To learn more about the 50-year history of action on lead and EDF’s involvement, check out this Vital Signs article:
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Fast forward to today as EDF is part of the Biden Administration’s Get the Lead Out Partnership. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a game-changing rule to replace lead pipes in the United States. EDF and our members are advocating for EPA’s improvements, which if approved, will:

# Replace 100% of lead service lines for the vast majority of water systems by 2037 and strictly limit partial replacements.
# Prioritize replacements for those that are disproportionately impacted by lead.
# Require water systems to communicate more frequently and proactively with consumers about lead service lines and the system’s plans for replacing the lines.

Lead-contaminated water has been on our list of worries for generations. But it doesn’t have to be, and the EPA’s plan is a big step in the right direction to make our drinking water safer. Learn more by reading EDF’s Vital Signs article here:
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Thank you for protecting our health,

Anne Russell Gregory
Manager, Online Member Engagement

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Environmental Defense Fund
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