Midwest water infrastructure leaders today touted Biden-Harris administration advancements made in lead service line replacement during a webinar hosted by the BlueGreen Alliance and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

The administration recently issued its final Lead and Copper Rule Improvements that require utilities around the country to replace all lead service lines. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an additional $2.6 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for water infrastructure improvements in early October.

“Our focus is on delivering safe, affordable drinking water with an emphasis on the most vulnerable neighborhoods,” said Bryan Peckinpaugh, Detroit Water & Sewage Department, Public Affairs Director. “Communities of color and low-income areas have been disproportionately impacted by lead service lines and unaffordable water bills. In advancing this work, we have sped up our lead service line replacements in Detroit from 700 per year to 8,000 replacements this year. Many of these same households are benefiting from our Lifeline Plan income-based water affordability program. We challenge every water utility in America to also look at this problem as a two-pronged public health intervention—safety and affordability.”

“Chicago is building a multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar program to address the largest legacy lead service line issue in the country,” said Michael Grillo, City of Chicago Department of Water Management, Deputy Commissioner for Lead Service Line Replacement. “With over 400,000 lead lines to remove, it is absolutely critical that we receive ongoing support from the federal and state government for Chicago to successfully execute the largest replacement program in the country.”

“Milwaukee runs on water and our utility is responsible for ensuring the city’s residents have the cleanest water possible flowing into their homes,” said Patrick Pauly, Milwaukee Water Works, Superintendent. “City ordinance requires us to replace all lead service lines with copper and we take this job seriously. With our equity prioritization plan, we are replacing pipes in the neighborhoods that need it most and addressing the greatest needs first.”

“We can’t rest until every lead service line is replaced in the nation,” said Richard Diaz, BlueGreen Alliance, Regional Field Organizer for Water Infrastructure. “Thankfully, the Biden-Harris administration has taken the issue of lead poisoning prevention seriously. Their investment will help create and maintain the good union jobs we need to rid our communities of lead pipes and deliver clean drinking water to our homes.”