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By Michael Phillis and Matthew Daly

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON 鈥� Most U.S. cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under strict new rules proposed by the as the Biden administration moves to聽reduce lead in drinking water and prevent public health crises聽like the ones in Flint, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.

Millions of people consume drinking water from lead pipes and the agency said tighter standards would improve IQ scores in children and reduce high blood pressure and heart disease in adults. It would be the strongest overhaul of lead rules in more than three decades, and cost billions of dollars. Pulling it off will require overcoming聽enormous practical and financial obstacles.

鈥淭hese improvements ensure that in a not-too-distant future, there will聽never be another city聽and another child poisoned by their pipes,鈥� said Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician and clean water advocate who raised early alarms about Flint.

The Biden administration has previously said it wants the nation鈥檚 entire inventory of lead pipes 鈥� roughly 9 million 鈥� to be removed, and rapidly. Lead pipes connect water mains under streets to homes and are typically the biggest source of lead in drinking water. They are most common in older, industrial parts of the country.

Lead crises have hit poorer, majority-Black cities like Flint especially hard, propelling the risks of lead in drinking water into the national consciousness. Their impact reaches beyond public health. After the crises, tap water use declined nationally,聽especially among Black and Hispanic people. Investment is vital to fix this injustice and ensure everyone has safe, lead-free drinking water, according to the Biden administration.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to right a longstanding wrong here,鈥� said Radhika Fox, head of the EPA Office of Water. 鈥淲e鈥檙e bending the arc towards equity and justice on this legacy issue.鈥�

Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., representing states that have faced lead crises, agreed in a joint statement, citing both the new rule and the Biden administration鈥檚 infrastructure investments. 鈥淲e can make a lead-free future a reality for all, no matter the color of their skin or their zip code,鈥� it said.

The proposal, called the lead and copper rule improvements, would for the first time require utilities to replace lead pipes even if their lead levels aren鈥檛 too high. Most cities have not been forced to replace their lead pipes and many don鈥檛 even know where they are.

There are some exceptions to the 10-year lead pipe replacement deadline. A few cities like Chicago with lots of lead pipes may be granted more time. Water utilities with dense networks of lead pipes 鈥� as many as 2,000 of them 鈥� also could get more than 10 years, the proposal says.

The push to reduce lead in tap water is part of a broader federal effort to combat lead exposure that includes proposed聽stricter limits on dust from lead-based paint聽in older homes and child care facilities and a goal to eliminate lead in aviation fuel.

The EPA enacted the first comprehensive regulations for lead in drinking water in 1991. Those have significantly helped reduce lead levels, but experts have said they left loopholes that keep lead levels too high and lax enforcement allows cities to ignore the problem.

鈥淲e now know that having literally tens of millions of people being exposed to low levels of lead from things like their drinking water has a big impact on the population鈥� and the current lead rules don鈥檛 fix it, said Erik Olson, an expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council who challenged the original regulations in the early 1990s. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping this new rule will have a big impact.鈥�

In addition, the EPA announced it wants to lower the level of lead at which utilities are forced to act. And federal officials are pushing cities to do a better job informing the public when elevated lead levels are found.

Another change involves how lead is measured. Utilities would need to collect more samples, and that could have significant consequences 鈥� when Michigan did something similar,聽the number of communities flagged for having high lead levels skyrocketed.

The public will have a chance to comment on the proposal and the agency expects to publish a final version of the rule in the fall 2024. There will be a waiting period before the rule takes effect.

Unlike other contaminants, lead seeps into drinking water that鈥檚 already departed the treatment plant. The main remedy is to add chemicals to keep it from leaching out of pipes and plumbing fixtures. But even identifying homes at risk can be difficult. A house with dangerous lead levels can be next to one with no lead exposure at all.

It will ultimately be up to utilities to decide whether to pay for full pipe replacements, which can be unaffordable for many people.

鈥淲e strongly, strongly encourage water utilities to pay for it,鈥� Fox said.

The American Water Works Association, an industry group, said it supports the EPA鈥檚 pipe replacement goals but added that there would be significant challenges. Costs are going up, it鈥檚 hard to secure homeowner permission to do pipe replacement work, and other contaminants like harmful 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥� called PFAS will also vie for financial resources and time, the group said.

Former President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration addressed lead in water, issuing new standards just before the end of his term. Those rules forced utilities to take stronger action when lead levels rose too high and required them to test day care centers and schools. They also made communities locate their lead pipes 鈥� initial inventories are due in October 2024.

But environmental groups聽criticized the rules聽for not going far enough. In response, the Biden administration said it would make the improvements officials announced Thursday.

The 2021 infrastructure law allocates $15 billion for work to find and replace lead pipes. More money will be needed. Additional federal funds are available to improve water infrastructure and the EPA is providing smaller communities with extra help. Some states, however, have been slower to attack the problem 鈥� a handful聽declined funding during the first round.

A few communities have聽replaced pipes quickly. After crises in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, officials paid for and efficiently replaced lead pipes, adopting novel rules that required homeowners to let construction crews onto their property to do the work.

Replacing the country鈥檚 lead pipes will be expensive, but the EPA says the health benefits far outweigh the cost.

Those benefits, Fox said, 鈥渁re really priceless.鈥�