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 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. 

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: