APM Reports



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How the EPA has left Americans exposed to lead in drinking water



The toxin has been buried for years. Across the country, lead pipes are still carrying water into millions of homes, more than 30 years after they were banned. They're tucked underground, out of sight and, for most Americans, out of mind, relics of an earlier time. But these aging conduits are still a risk for tens of millions of people. A new data analysis by APM Reports shows that those pipes may be leaching significantly more lead into Americans' tap water than government monitoring has revealed.



The Environmental Protection Agency — charged with ensuring the nation has clean air and water — has allowed utilities to use a testing method that doesn't detect the highest concentrations of lead from these water pipes, a deficiency the agency has long known about.



Scientists at the EPA have spent a decade urging the government to require more rigorous testing methods. But in its first major revision of lead-in-water regulations, made public in October, the EPA ignored years of research by its scientists.



The agency instead sided with water utilities in choosing to preserve its misleading test standards, an APM Reports investigation has found. And now the Trump administration, amid a global pandemic, is pushing to finalize the revised regulations this summer.



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