Biden-Harris Administration announces over $28 million for Vermont lead pipe replacement to advance safe drinking water as part of Investing in America agenda

Biden-Harris Administration announces over $28 million for Vermont 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

May 2, 2024

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 Vermont 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."

"When people in the world's richest country turn on their taps, the water that comes out should be clean," said U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. "That's why I fought hard to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in our last Congress and ensure Vermont got its fair share. I am pleased to see the EPA will be releasing more of the funds from this legislation to support our state's communities as they carry out the necessary work to maintain and upgrade their drinking water infrastructure. I look forward to seeing these funds implemented as quickly and as effectively as possible so that every Vermonter in every corner of our state can have access to clean, safe, and reliable drinking water."

"Every community deserves to have clean drinking water. That's why Vermont has led the country as one of the first states to regulate the use of lead pipes to service our water systems. Still, too many service lines contaminated by lead remain in our state, causing serious, long-term health risks that disproportionately impact marginalized and low-income communities," said Senator Peter Welch. "This $28 million investment from the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to remove and replace lead pipes across Vermont will really make a difference in making sure every community has safe water to drink."

"We take seriously the public health risk presented by lead exposure through drinking water," said Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore. "With this substantial funding, we stand poised to expedite the identification and replacement of lead service lines, improving the well-being of our communities, and helping us reach our goal of ensuring all Vermonters have access to safe, clean drinking water."

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. 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 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:

• Town of Bethel has received $2,500,000 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to begin a preliminary engineering report and environmental report for replacing lead service lines.
• City of Rutland has received $800,000 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to inventory lead service lines.

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.