Trump administration’s new lead rules in water dismissed as ‘window dressing’

Critics say rules give water systems decades more time to replace dangerous pipes and fail to boost urgency for cleaning up lead

The Trump administration is proposing new rules for lead in drinking water, overhauling the regulations for the first time in three decades, following crises in Flint, Michigan, and other US communities, but critics say the changes appear to give water systems decades more time to replace pipes leaching dangerous amounts of toxic lead.

The Environmental Protection Agency would require water systems to notify customers if levels exceed 15 parts per billion. And it would require water testing at schools and daycares.

But it would not require the removal of an estimated 6m or more lead service lines pipes connecting a home to water mains in the US.

Betsy Southerland, a senior EPA water official under the Obama administration, said the new proposals failed to boost the urgency of the countrys rules, issued in 1991, for cleaning up lead in water systems.

Its really just like window dressing to try to make it look like they were being much more stringent by adding a trigger level. In fact, the real action level stayed exactly the same, and they lowered the percent of annual lead line replacements to 3% from 7%. That means full replacement will take 33 years instead of 15 years. Thats very disappointing, said Southerland, who now belongs to the Environmental Protection Network, a bipartisan non-profit.

Lead exposure can cause kidney dysfunction, headaches and irritability. For children, even low lead blood levels can damage the brain and nervous system, slow growth and development and lead to learning and behavior problems.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, no safe blood level in children has been identified.

The agency does not propose to lower the level of lead allowed in water, currently set at 15 parts per billion. But it would set a new trigger level of 10 parts per billion, at which point water systems would have to work with states to set goals for replacing lead service lines.

Systems with lead above 15 parts per billion would need to implement plans to replace at least 3% of lead services lines every year, rather than the currently required 7% of lead service lines.

The number of residential lead service lines in the US is unknown, but estimates range from 6.5m to 10m homes that have at pipes at least partially made of lead.

Original Article : HERE ;

from MetNews https://metnews.pw/trump-administrations-new-lead-rules-in-water-dismissed-as-window-dressing/