VICTORY: With concerted, relentless action from people like YOU, we stopped Republicans in Congress from repealing the Lead Out of Water Rule! Now it’s time to urge the EPA to defend these critical water protections in court!

John,

This year, Congressional Republicans went after the Lead Out of Water Rule, a Biden-era rule that would protect communities from toxic lead water pipes. It’s a Project 2025 priority to permanently roll back EPA regulations using the Congressional Review Act, but they didn’t succeed with the Lead Out of Water Rule.

Thanks to the dedication of Food & Water Watch supporters like you and our allies, and over 40,000 messages to our members of Congress, we were able to move enough Republican legislators to oppose the repeal of this rule. Now the deadline to overturn this rule using the Senate fast-track has passed. We’ve won….for now.

However, the fight isn’t over yet — the next 30 days are critical.

Take action: Tell EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to do his job and protect our communities from toxins in our water!

Historic protections aimed at keeping our water safe from lead and PFAS are also being challenged in court by polluters. Within the next month, Trump’s EPA, under Lee Zeldin, will decide whether to defend these protections in court.

The diseases, developmental disorders, and internal damage caused by lead and PFAS in our water are preventable. The EPA must protect communities from these toxic substances in our water, not roll back important progress we’ve made toward safe water for our families.

We must urge the EPA to defend and not delay these critical rules:

1. The Lead Out of Water Rule (officially the “Lead and Copper Rule Improvements”) strengthens protections against lead in drinking water by requiring full lead service line replacement in a decade for most communities. Together, we protected this rule from being repealed by Congress. Now it’s up to the EPA to defend it in the courts.

2. Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” don’t readily break down on their own in the environment. They leach into our food, water, ecosystems, and even our bodies, causing serious health issues. Now two important Biden-era actions are under attack: one that sets limits for PFAS in drinking water, and one that designates PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances – the first step to holding polluters accountable.

The EPA already asked for extensions on these three cases, which means they’re still considering how they’ll respond.

The EPA’s decision on whether to defend or delay these rules comes at a time when public opinion on clean water has never been clearer — nobody wants to drink poisoned water.

We were able to stop Congress from overturning the Lead Out of Water rule by showing overwhelming public support for it. Now we need to mobilize even greater public pressure towards the EPA.

It’s time to build on our recent victory and demand that EPA Administrator Zeldin defend and not delay critical drinking water protections against lead and PFAS in court.

Onward together,