Millions of people across the country drink water that passes through lead pipes, putting countless communities at risk of lead contamination along the way. Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to keep lead out of our drinking water.
Lead is especially dangerous for children, infants, and fetuses. Even in small amounts, it can cause irreversible brain damage, learning disabilities, and impaired hearing. In adults, it can cause cardiovascular disease, decreased kidney function, and miscarriage. There is no safe level of lead exposure for anyone. And yet, while the Congress banned the installation of lead pipes in 1986, water to tens of millions of people is still delivered through them.
Lead service lines naturally corrode when water flows through them. This corrosion causes toxic lead to leach into our faucet water.
There are laws on the books designed to protect us from lead and other harmful contaminants in our drinking water. In the case of lead, the most important regulation is called the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), which the EPA administers nationwide. The explicit goal of the LCR is to significantly minimize levels of lead at the tap, but it has been 30 years and millions are still exposed to lead from their faucets.
As it stands, the Lead and Copper Rule doesn’t do nearly enough to protect the public from the dangers of lead contamination. In fact, the previous administration released flawed revisions to the LCR that weakened the rule, such as slowing down the replacement of lead service lines, rather than speeding them up. Earthjustice challenged the EPA’s revised rule in court and the agency is currently reviewing input provided by activists like you during a recent comment period.
The water infrastructure in many communities is decades old and in desperate need of safe, lead-free pipes and fixtures. Many of these towns disproportionately affected by contaminated water are communities of color, further underscoring environmental injustices Black and Brown communities face daily.
It’s time the country gets serious about lead in drinking water once and for all. We won’t settle for anything less than strong rules to protect our nation’s water. Urge the EPA to be bold and put out a rule that expedites the removal of lead service lines across the country at no cost to consumers and takes other meaningful steps to prevent lead poisoning from drinking water.
