Biden-Harris Administration Announces Over $152 Million for Pennsylvania Lead Pipe Replacement to Advance Safe Drinking Water as Part of Investing in America Agenda
Publilshed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
PHILADELPHIA – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced over $152 million from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help Pennsylvania identify and replace lead service lines, preventing exposure to lead in drinking water. Lead can cause a range of serious health impacts, including irreversible harm to brain development in children. To protect children and families, President Biden has committed to replacing every lead pipe in the country. Today’s announcement, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and available through EPA’s successful Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), takes another major step to advance this work and the Administration’s commitment to environmental justice. This funding builds on the Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan and EPA’s Get the Lead Out Initiative.
Working collaboratively, EPA and the State Revolving Funds are advancing the President’s Justice40 Initiative to ensure that 40% of overall benefits from certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. Lead exposure disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income families. The total funding announced through this program to date is expected to replace up to 1.7 million lead pipes nationwide, securing clean drinking water for countless families.
“Across our region, states are getting boosts from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will improve lives, strengthen communities, and protect our most vulnerable populations,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “This funding brings us much closer to replacing all lead service lines throughout the nation.”
“The Pennsylvania constitution guarantees the right to clean drinking water, but lead pipes pose critical health concerns to families across the Commonwealth,” said U.S. Senator Bob Casey (PA). “Thanks to the infrastructure law, Pennsylvania will receive yet another round of funding to replace dangerous lead service lines. With this funding, we are restoring trust in our water supply, so that no family needs to think twice about drinking from the tap.”
“It’s just commonsense that we need to provide clean drinking water to all communities in Pennsylvania and across the country,” said U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA). “President Biden understands this. That’s why he’s prioritized investing in water infrastructure. These federal dollars will ensure that more forgotten communities across the commonwealth will have access to safe and quality drinking water.”
“I proudly voted for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and I’m pleased to see the Biden-Harris Administration once again using this law to deliver much-needed funding for Pennsylvania,” said Congressman Dwight Evans (PA-3).
“Every Pennsylvanian should be able to turn on the tap and know that their drinking water is safe,” said Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-5). “I’m glad to see another wave of clean water infrastructure funding made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law flowing into Pennsylvania to protect our children and families from lead in drinking water.”
“Americans have a right to safe drinking water,” said Congressman Brendan Boyle (PA-2). “I voted for this infrastructure funding to begin the process of replacing thousands of miles of lead pipes in the State of Pennsylvania and across the nation. Philadelphia is home to some of the state’s oldest water service lines. I welcome this lead pipe replacement effort from President Biden and commend him on leading the way to safer and healthier water through his Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan.”
“Removing lead pipes is about protecting kids and making sure that all of our communities have safe, clean drinking water folks can count on,” said Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17). “With this $152 million investment for lead pipe removal across the Commonwealth, President Biden’s Infrastructure Law is once again stepping up to improve our health and safety.”
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests a historic $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 services 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 provided specifically for lead service line identification and replacement and 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 most effectively reduce exposure to lead in drinking water. 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 the identification of 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 more about some additional projects that are 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) including an assessment of newly submitted information. To date, 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 which will include the updated lead service line projections. EPA anticipates initiating data collection, which will include 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.
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Read the full article at: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-announces-over-152-million-pennsylvania-lead-pipe
