President Biden’s visit to Milwaukee; lead pipe replacement time

MILWAUKEE – President Joe Biden will be in Milwaukee on Tuesday, October 8 to discuss his administration’s “progress in changing the pipeline and creating good-paying jobs,” the White House said.

Biden is expected to announce the final rule of the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday in Wisconsin in the last month of the presidential campaign. The ad points to a problem – safe drinking water.

A decade after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis raised concerns about the continued threat of lead in tap water, President Joe Biden is setting a deadline for 10 year for cities across the country to replace their pipelines, completing a rigorous process that aims to ensure. drinking water is safe for all Americans.

Biden and Harris believe it is “critical” to ensure everyone has access to clean drinking water, EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters Monday. “We know that more than 9 million lead pipes continue to supply water to homes across our country.

The legislation is the most drastic change to lead-in-water standards in nearly three decades. Lead, a heavy metal used in pipes, paint, bullets and many other products, is a neurotoxin that can cause a wide range of health problems. behavior in brain damage. Lead lowers IQ scores in children, stunts their development and increases high blood pressure in adults.

The EPA estimates that the strict guidelines will prevent up to 900,000 babies from having a low birth weight and avoid reaching to 1,500 premature deaths a year from heart disease.

The new regulation is stricter than the one proposed last fall and requires water to ensure that the level of lead does not exceed the “action level” of 10 parts per billion, from 15 parts per billion below the current level. If the water level is found to be high, the public should be informed about ways to protect their health, including using the four water sources. clean the water, and take action to reduce lead while working together to replace all the pipes.

Lead pipes mostly affect low-income urban areas. They are often found in older, industrialized areas of the country, including major cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Detroit and Milwaukee, where Biden will announce positions on Tuesday.

The new law also revises the way lead is measured, which could expand the number of cities and waters that have high levels of lead, the EPA said. .

To help communities comply, the agency is making an additional $2.6 billion available for drinking water infrastructure through the bipartisan rule. The agency is also providing $35 million in matching funds for programs to reduce lead in drinking water.

The 10-year period will not start for three years, to give the water time to prepare. The limited number of cities with large lead pipelines can provide a long time to meet the new standard.

Biden will make the announcement in Milwaukee, a city with the fifth-highest number of lead pipes in the country, according to the EPA. Officials are using funds from the federal law to speed up pipeline replacement projects and meet the goal of removing all pipelines within 10 years, from under the first 60 years.

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Lead pipes can corrode and contaminate drinking water; specific removal reduces the chance of an accident. In Flint, a change to the city’s drinking water source more than a decade ago made it more corrosive, increasing lead levels in the tap water. Flint is the most famous example of many cities struggling with high lead levels, including Newark, New Jersey, Benton Harbor, Michigan, and Washington, DC

The first lead and copper rule for drinking water was enacted by the EPA more than 30 years ago. Laws have greatly reduced lead in tap water but have included restrictions that allow cities to take action when lead levels are high.

“I think there is broad support for doing this. No one wants to drink tap water contaminated with lead or sip their water from a straw, so millions of people are doing it today,” said Erik Olson, a health professional. and a food expert at the nonprofit National Resources Defense Council, speak publicly about the EPA’s efforts to replace lead pipes before the official notice.

The reality is that getting lead pipes out of the ground is a huge challenge. The public works law approved in 2021 provided $15 billion to help cities replace their pipes, but the total cost will increase significantly. The demand also comes as the Biden administration issues new drinking water standards for persistent chemicals called PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These standards will improve public health at a cost of billions of dollars.

The American Water Works Association, a trade group, said when the legislation was announced that it supports the EPA’s goals, but warned that it could be expensive.

Another challenge was finding the lead pipes. Many cities do not have accurate records to describe their location. This month the first pipeline list will be set, and many towns have said they don’t know what their pipelines are made of.