Biden sets 10-year deadline to remove all lead pipes nationwide

Milwaukee, Wisconsin – President Biden is set to announce $2.6 billion in funding to replace all lead pipes in the United States as part of a new EPA rules require the lead pipes to be identified and replaced within 10 years using new funding from the Dual Infrastructure Act.

The EPA estimates that nine million homes in the US have lead pipes.

The city of Milwaukee, where Mr. Biden announced, there are 65,000 lead pipes, which the city said would cost about $700 million to remove.

“The science has been clear for years. There is no safe level of lead in drinking water,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan to reporters on Monday.

The final rule will require more stringent lead testing requirements and mandate a full inventory of water pipes. The $2.6 billion is the latest funding from the Biden administration for lead pipes in the $50 billion from the 2021 drinking water and wastewater appropriations act.

Legal challenges may arise but senior administration officials believe the decision is within EPA’s “legal authority” and over stable legal status.

The visit of Mr. Biden comes amid widespread opposition in the swing state of Wisconsin by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. The last visit of Mr. Biden almost a month ago in Westly, Wisconsin for a campaign on providing electricity to rural America.

The political focus in Wisconsin is Mr. Biden reflects the hope that the Democrats can hold on to the state they lost in 2020 by a small margin after losing it in 2016.

Wisconsin is one of six states that has more than double the rate of childhood hypertension in the nation, according to a 2021 study published in JAMA pediatrics.

Even low levels of lead can cause mental retardation in children, according to Dr. Adam Blumenberg, emergency medicine physician and toxicology specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

“If there’s a lot of lead in the child, you want to find out where it’s coming from and remove the source of the exposure. That’s always going to be one of the most important things to do,” Blumenberg said.

Deanna Branch, a mother and environmental activist from Milwaukee, told CBS News that she finally saw the money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act being used to remove lead pipes in her home. village.

Branch’s son Aidan suffered from eye poisoning while they lived in a house with paint, windows, pipes and mud. Her son’s level was so high that they had to leave home and live in a homeless shelter for almost three months while they searched for a safe house. Branch said the incident was horrific for her son and left him with health problems that he will deal with for the rest of his life.

The Branch now lives in a building that does not have lead paint, but they still have plumbing.

“When I started advocating there was a 50-year plan that went down to a 40-year plan, now there’s a nine-year plan to remove all the pipes in Milwaukee,” he said. Branch told CBS News. “I have to live to see the lead pipes removed from Milwaukee and that gives hope for other places as well.”

There are still many Milwaukeeans who need to live in a safe, lead-free environment: many homes and many hospitals.

The branch says there are not enough safe houses available in the community. His old house where his poisoned son was found is still being rented as recently as a few years ago according to the branch. As for the Next Door Pediatrics Clinic where his son was first tested for lead poisoning, it has since closed, leaving a health gap in the community. The branch appreciates the work of the hospital because her little girl has no leader.

There is a sense of shame for the parents of their children who have suffered from lead poisoning, but the Branch wants to remove the shame from the equivalent of asking for help.

“I want them to know it’s not you,” Branch said. “We do not have justice, and it is the right of people to have clean drinking water.”