Biden’s EPA takes further action to mandate LSL replacement

On Dec. 16, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) long-awaited Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) took effect, nearly a year after they were finalized by the then-outgoing Trump Administration. The Biden administration marked the occasion by announcing a new Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan that will seek to achieve the White House’s goal of replacing 100 percent of lead service lines nationwide, including by pursuing further changes to the LCRR.

According to a fact sheet published by the White House, the new Action Plan will trigger more than 15 new federal actions. These include formally allocating funding for lead service line replacements that was included in recently enacted infrastructure legislation, clarifying that states and communities can draw on $350 billion appropriated as part of COVID-19 relief legislation to replace lead service lines and interior plumbing, and immediately “launching a new regulatory process to protect communities from lead in drinking water.”