(AGENPARL) - Roma, 2 Maggio 2024 - (AGENPARL) – gio 02 maggio 2024 Issued: May 2, 2024 (12:24pm EDT)
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New Jersey to Get Over $123 Million for Lead Pipe Replacement to Advance Safe
Drinking Water 
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
New York (May 2, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced $123.1 million from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda
to help New Jersey 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, takes another major step to advance this
work and environmental justice, and bolsters 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 as 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, which would secure 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.” 
“Every New Jerseyan deserves safe drinking water when they turn on their tap
and this major injection of funding will further bolster the work to achieve
that goal,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “For too long,
the urgent need to improve our drinking water systems has far outweighed the
available funding. This crucial Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding is
helping close that gap.” 
“The public health threat posed by our aging water infrastructure is a
challenge across both our state and the nation. In order to prevent toxic
exposures for this generation and beyond, we have committed to replacing every
lead service line in New Jersey by 2031,” said New Jersey Governor Phil
Murphy. “Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and
the support of the U.S. EPA and our congressional delegation, the substantial
federal resources pouring into New Jersey will put us a great deal closer to
this goal.”? 
“This investment in replacing New Jersey’s lead service lines will help
ensure we deliver safe, clean drinking water while also creating jobs. In a
nation as wealthy as ours, every child should be guaranteed the right to safe
drinking water,” said U.S. Senator Cory Booker. “I’m proud to have voted
for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to make investments like this that will
pay dividends in our health, well-being, and prosperity for generations to
come.”? 
“Clean and safe drinking water is essential for communities in South Jersey
and across the state,” said U.S. Representative Donald Norcross (NJ-01).
“This federal funding to replace dangerous lead pipes is yet another
transformative investment in New Jersey made possible by the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law. I commend President Biden and the EPA for their continued
commitment to delivering the infrastructure improvements that our communities
need. I look forward to working together to build on this progress and ensure
that tax dollars are put to work for South Jersey families.” 
“We continue to see the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law delivering for
essential, everyday needs across New Jersey. Lead-free drinking water should
be a right, never a luxury. I am proud to have helped deliver our state this
critical funding to look after public health and reduce the risk of lead
contaminated water,’ said U.S. Representative Andy Kim (NJ-03). “I look
forward to seeing its impact for so many local families and am committed to
building on this effort to ensure every community across New Jersey and our
country has the resources it needs to deliver everyone reliable, clean
water.”? 
“New Jersey has more than 350,000 lead lines, among the most in the nation.
Every family in Jersey deserves to drink water that’s free of lead and
dangerous chemicals,” said U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5).
“I’m proud to have helped craft and pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Bill, a milestone in my years-long fight for clean drinking water. With this
legislation, we’re clawing back massive federal investments to protect
Jersey children and purify our water — all without raising local taxes.
It’s a victory for our families, our environment, and our entire state.” 
“Every American should be able to trust the water that comes from their tap,
which is why removing toxic lead water lines has long been one of my top
priorities in Congress. In New Jersey, too many families still receive water
in their homes through these dangerous lines. Thankfully today’s
announcement continues to build on our state’s progress toward upgrading our
water infrastructure by replacing these toxic water lines,” said U.S.
Representative Frank Pallone (NJ-06). “As Chairman of the Energy and
Commerce Committee last Congress, I fought to include this funding in the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law so that families don’t have to worry about
being exposed to this harmful contaminant in their water. I’m glad to see
that law is continuing to deliver on the promise to improve our state’s most
critical infrastructure, and I’ll keep fighting to ensure that all of our
communities have access to safe drinking water.”? 
“No one should have to question whether their tap water is safe to drink,”
said U.S. Representative Menendez (NJ-08). “With over $120 million coming
from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are transforming our aging water
infrastructure to deliver safe drinking water to residents across New Jersey.
I am proud to work alongside House Democrats and the Biden Administration to
ensure that every American can trust the water flowing from their
faucets.”? 
“Towns and cities throughout New Jersey are working to replace lead service
lines but I often hear from mayors and councils about the tough financial
burden these projects put on their municipal budgets. I am proud to have
fought for the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that continues to
deliver for our state with this new funding from the EPA. The federal
resources coming to New Jersey to help fund these projects will have an
immense impact on affordability, health, and water quality in our
communities,” said U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11).?? 
“Safe drinking water is a human right, yet far too many people in New Jersey
and across the country lack access to it. We have a national water crisis and
must act now,” said U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12).
“I’m proud to advocate for targeted federal funding to eliminate lead
lines, address potential contaminants in our water, and ensure our state has
clean drinking water. This historic investment from the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law is a crucial step toward building a sustainable, secure and
healthy future for all.”? 
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 New Jersey fund
projects to remove lead pipes and reduce exposure to lead from drinking water.
This Lead Service Line-specific formula allows states to receive financial
assistance commensurate with their need as soon as possible, furthering public
health protection nationwide. To ensure that funding is used for lead service
line related activities, LSLR allotments are based on need — meaning that
states with more projected lead service lines receive proportionally more. 
Alongside the funding announced today, EPA is also releasing a 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 New Jersey families benefit from
these unprecedented resources and support projects like these:  
In New Brunswick, New Jersey, the City and Rutgers University are actively
developing a workforce program to address the community’s demand for skilled
operators. The collaboration addresses immediate needs and aims to become a
model for other communities aspiring to secure a healthier water future.
Today, the New Brunswick plant is one of the most critical water supply assets
to the region’s people and its economy with 67 employees delivering an
average of 130 million gallons and a maximum delivery capacity of up to 190
million gallons daily. New Brunswick is also among the 10 New Jersey
communities actively engaged in the EPA’s Lead Service Line Replacement
Accelerators program, a part of EPA’s WaterTA initiative funded by the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 
The Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority is identifying, excavating, and
replacing lead drinking water service lines at homes with known service lines
in accordance with the new Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. JCMUA is replacing
lead lines with new copper service lines from the water main to the curb stop
and/or the curb stop to the water meter at the building. The presence of lead
service lines is a known issue in Jersey City and the JCMUA is proactively
addressing this before lead poses a threat to residents’ health. 
To view more stories about how the unprecedented 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 including an assessment of the
one-time update submissions. 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. 
Follow EPA Region 2 on?X?and visit our?Facebook?page. For more
information about EPA Region 2, visit our?website. 
24-041 
(347) 908-3374
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