(AGENPARL) – gio 02 maggio 2024 Issued: May 2, 2024 (8:53am EDT)
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Biden-Harris Administration announces over $28 million for Maine lead pipe
replacement to advance safe drinking water as part of Investing in America
agenda
EPA announces latest round of funding toward President Biden’s commitment
to replace every lead pipe in the nation, protecting public health and helping
to deliver safe drinking water
BOSTON (May 2, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced $28,650,000 from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to
help Maine 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.
“The science is clear, there is no safe level of lead exposure, and the
primary source of harmful exposure in drinking water is through lead pipes,”
said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “President Biden understands it is
critical to identify and remove lead pipes as quickly as possible, and he has
secured significant resources for states and territories to accelerate the
permanent removal of dangerous lead pipes once and for all.”
“Our goal is simple, yet essential: to assure that everyone has clean, safe
drinking water. That’s why identifying and replacing lead service lines is
crucial; it can protect our communities, especially the most vulnerable, from
lead exposure,” said EPA Regional Administrator David W. Cash. “New
England has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, and no one—no
matter where they live—should have to worry about lead in their drinking
water and what comes out of the tap. This funding from the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law provides the much-needed resources to help deliver on that
promise—to replace every lead pipe and ensure clean, safe drinking water for
all.”
“We know there is no safe level of lead consumption, especially for
children. And while Maine was decades ahead of the nation on banning lead
pipes and plumbing fixtures, thousands of lead service lines are still in use
across the state,” said Senator Angus King (I-Maine) and Representatives
Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Jared Golden (D-Maine). “Thanks to the
landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this $28 million federal investment
will help identify and replace remaining lead pipes across Maine so we can
eradicate this known health threat for good. We’re proud to see this
historic law continue to deliver for Maine people.”
“The Maine CDC remains committed to assisting Public Water Systems with
identifying and replacing any lead service lines that may still be present
across the State,” said Dr. Puthiery Va, Director of the Maine Center for
Disease Control and Prevention. “The U.S. EPA funding is available to Public
Water Systems in Maine to support that important work.”
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.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious initiative to remove lead pipes
has already delivered significant results for families across the nation.
Today’s latest funding will ensure more families benefit from these
unprecedented resources, and support projects like these:
The Greater Augusta Utilities District has received $1,000,000 through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for Lead Service Line Inventories including the
purchase of a vacuum truck and trailer.
The Stonington Water Company has received $65,000 through the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law for service line inspection and replacement associated with
a transmission line replacement.
The Presque Isle Utilities District has received $479,596 through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for Vacuum truck purchasing for Lead Service
Line inventory and replacement.
To view more 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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