The Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI) has announced its strong support of the Financing Lead Out of Water (FLOW) Act, H.R. 3892. The bipartisan legislation reintroduced in June is aimed at helping communities accelerate the removal of lead service lines, including those located on private property.
PPI is the major North American trade association representing the plastic pipe industry. The organization’s member companies provide piping solutions that are widely used in water infrastructure projects across the country.
“By enabling the use of tax-exempt private activity bonds for full lead service line replacement, the FLOW Act removes a key financial barrier that has slowed progress on these critical infrastructure upgrades,” said David M. Fink, PPI president. “This policy change will allow more communities — particularly low-income and historically underserved areas — to modernize their water systems and protect public health.”
The FLOW Act would reduce IRS red tape by amending the tax code to simplify the process for public water systems to qualify for tax-exempt bonds for replacing the private portion of lead service lines. As the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), which helped develop the bill, explained, this could be accomplished by exempting qualified lead service line replacement projects from the “business use test,” a requirement to finance a project with municipal bonds. The business use test is a process by which water systems certify to the IRS that proceeds from a bond do not benefit private businesses above a certain threshold. This process requires water systems to individually verify whether a business operates out of each residence with a planned private-side lead service line replacement, which AMWA said has delayed implementation of these replacements and increased costs.
The first version of the FLOW Act was introduced in 2022. The 2025 version of the bill was introduced in the House and Senate on June 10, and was sponsored by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.V.).
“As this bill advances, PPI stands ready to support utilities, engineers, and project leaders in replacing lead service lines with modern materials that meet today’s safety, performance, and sustainability standards,” added Donnie Johnson, director of sustainability and advocacy at PPI. “We thank Representatives Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Haley Stevens (D-MI), and Mike Kelly (R-PA) for their leadership and urge Congress to move swiftly on this important legislation.”
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