Leaked rule: EPA doubles timeline for lead pipe removal

The Trump administration today plans to more than double the amount of time the nation's water utilities have to replace service lines with serious lead contamination — a move critics are casting as a rollback that will continue to leave dangerous supply lines in the ground for decades.

EPA's final Lead and Copper Rule would give utilities twice as much time to replace some of the most contaminated lead service lines, according to a final rule obtained by E&E News.

The agency has estimated there are somewhere between 6 million and 10 million lead service lines throughout the country.

The final rule — the first update to federal standards in nearly 30 years — follows the bulk of a proposal EPA released last fall, which the agency has touted as a means of accelerating the pace of replacing lead service line.

Read more about EPA here: https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063721353