EPA Announces $28.7 Million for Arizona Lead Pipe Replacement to Advance Safe Drinking Water
Publilshed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
SAN FRANCISCO (May 2, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $28,650,000 from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help Arizona identify and replace lead service lines, preventing exposure to lead in drinking water. Lead can cause a range of severe health impacts, including irreversible harm to brain development in children. President Biden has committed to replacing every lead pipe in the country to protect children and families. The investment announced today, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and available through EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), takes another major step to advance public health and environmental justice and bolsters the Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan and Get the Lead Out Initiative.
Working collaboratively, EPA and Arizona are advancing the President’s Justice40 Initiative to ensure that 40% of overall benefits from certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities, including those overburdened by lead exposure and pollution. Lead exposure disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income communities. To date, the total funding announced through this program is expected to replace up to 1.7 million lead pipes nationwide, securing clean drinking water for countless families.
“Every single person living in Arizona deserves access to clean, safe drinking water and a guarantee that they and their loved ones will be protected from lead contamination,” said Martha Guzman, EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator. “Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is investing an unprecedented amount of funding to replace these harmful lead service lines, with communities at the greatest risk of lead poisoning prioritized.”
“Access to clean drinking water is a right that will be expanded in Arizona thanks to this investment from our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said U.S. Senator Mark Kelly. “By addressing drinking water contamination, we’re protecting the health of families across the state. I’ll continue pushing for more federal funds to invest in Arizona’s water infrastructure.”
“All Arizonans deserve access to clean, safe drinking water – and still, exposure to water from lead pipes threatens the health of families and loved ones. Thanks to our bipartisan infrastructure law, we’re investing in lead pipe replacement to protect Arizonans’ health,” said U.S. Senator Krysten Sinema, co-author and lead negotiator of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“Water is our foundation, and access to clean drinking water is intrinsic to leading a healthy and prosperous life,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “Every Arizonan, regardless of zip code or socioeconomic background, has a right to clean drinking water and I am grateful to the Environmental Protection Agency for prioritizing this and providing Arizona the resources to tackle this issue. I look forward to our continued partnership to create a safe and healthy Arizona for everyone.”
“As a lifelong resident of the southside of Tucson who was impacted by hazardous water contamination, protecting residents from polluted drinking water has long been a priority for me,” declared U.S. Representative Raúl Manuel Grijalva (AZ-7). “There is no safe level of exposure to lead for children, and children in disadvantaged communities deserve every bit of protection as everyone else. Addressing unsafe lead pipes was a major component of the infrastructure law, and I’m proud to see this $26 million federal investment protecting Arizonans. I appreciate the Biden administration’s commitment to environmental justice and the continued investment to ensure our water infrastructure and drinking supply are safe for future generations.”
“Access to clean drinking water is essential, no matter what zip code you’re in. Thanks to these historic funds from our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re making sure communities across Arizona can identify and replace lead pipes and prevent toxic exposure,” declared U.S. Representative Greg Stanton (NV-04).
“Every Arizonan deserves access to clean drinking water. Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I’m proud of these investments to remove lead pipes in communities across the state,” remarked U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego.
“Resources for lead service line replacement are already being used in large and small communities across the state,” stated Chuck Podolak, Director of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA). “We are grateful for the continued infusion of critical funding and the partnerships it has facilitated between WIFA and Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality, which is utilizing funds to assist small water systems in identifying where harmful lead service lines might exist in their communities. WIFA is excited to see EPA’s continued dedication to providing resources to ensure clean drinking water for Arizona’s families.”
The Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious initiative to remove lead pipes has already delivered significant results for families nationwide, including in Arizona.
The City of Tuscon recently received $6.95 million to develop a lead service line inventory for its nine public water systems. The city will use this inventory to develop a plan to replace lead service lines throughout the community and improve drinking water quality for residents, particularly those living in overburdened and low-income communities.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $15 billion to identify and replace lead service lines. The law mandates that 49% of funds provided through the DWSRF General Supplemental Funding and DWSRF Lead Service Line Replacement Funding must be provided as grants and forgivable loans to disadvantaged communities, a crucial investment for communities that have been underinvested in for too long. EPA projects a national total of 9 million lead service lines across the country, based on data collected from the updated 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment. The funding announced today will be explicitly provided for lead service line identification and replacement. It will help every state and territory fund projects to remove lead pipes and reduce exposure to lead from drinking water.
The Lead Service Line-specific formula used to allot these funds allows states to receive financial assistance commensurate with their need as soon as possible, furthering public health protection nationwide. The formula and allotments are based on need — meaning that states with more projected lead service lines receive proportionally more funding.
Alongside the funding announced today, EPA is also releasing a new memorandum that clarifies how states can use this and other funding to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water most effectively. Additionally, EPA has developed new outreach documents to help water systems educate their customers on drinking water issues, health impacts of lead exposure, service line ownership, and how customers can support identifying potential lead service lines in their homes.
To view stories about how the unpreceded investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are transforming communities across the country, visit EPA’s Investing in America’s Water Infrastructure Story Map. To read about some projects underway, see EPA’s recently released Quarterly Report on Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funded Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF projects and explore the State Revolving Funds Public Portal.
Today’s allotments are based on EPA’s updated 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA), which includes an assessment of newly submitted information. This is the best available data collected and assessed on service line materials in the United States. Later this summer, EPA will release an addendum to the 7th DWINSA Report to Congress, including the updated lead service line projections. EPA anticipates initiating data collection, consisting of information on lead service lines, for the 8th DWINSA in 2025.
For more information, including state-by-state allotment of 2024 funding and a breakdown of EPA’s lead Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, please visit EPA’s Drinking Water website.
Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region here, and visit our Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Read the full article at: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-287-million-arizona-lead-pipe-replacement-advance-safe-drinking-water
