“Hopefully, the bill will allow agencies to test more homes for it and ideally provide funds to get those lines changed out,” Gautreaux said.Īccording to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, there’s no amount of lead in the body that is considered safe, with children under age 5 being especially vulnerable to its effects. All of this allows lead to leach into drinking water,” he said. But many water systems across America still have lead transmission lines, and many homes (especially older ones) have lead pipes, fixtures, and solders. “Any lead that enters our plant would likely be removed in our treatment process. “Lead is not a naturally occurring issue in surface water,” John Gautreaux, a senior water treatment plant operator in Houma, Louisiana, told Healthline. So, experts say, any lead presence in our water systems is a matter of grave concern. The highly toxic metal, once used in gasoline, paint, and jewelry, is deadly in large quantities but can also cause physical damage to people in minuscule amounts. The allocations include nearly $12 billion to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, with another $4 billion to the fund earmarked specifically for “emerging contaminants” as well as $5 billion to Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation grants.īut perhaps the most significant investment in terms of long-term health impacts is the $15 billion set aside for lead service line replacement to begin overhauling and reducing lead contamination in the nation’s water systems. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls it “the single largest investment in water that the federal government has ever made.”
They also say replacing old pipes is a good investment because healthy drinking water significantly reduces public health costs.Īfter months of wrangling, Congress has approved a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal providing, among other things, nearly $36 billion for improving the nation’s water systems.They note there are ways to test for lead in your home water supply.Experts say this program is important because of the long lasting health effects of lead in water supplies, especially to children under age 5.The recently approved $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill contains $15 billion to replace aging water pipes across the country.Share on Pinterest Experts say children are particularly vulnerable to the health issues caused by lead in water pipes.
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