UPDATE: Attorney General Kaul Joins Multistate Coalition as Amici Curiae in the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements

This is a corrected press release reflecting that the multistate coalition has withdrawn its motion to intervene and is instead intending to participate as amici curiae.

 

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul joined a multistate coalition to participate as amici curiae in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). The LCRI, which went into effect on December 30, replaced the first Trump Administration’s rule, the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), which had weakened existing drinking water standards for lead exposure. The current LCRI strengthens the original Lead and Copper Rule by implementing more stringent standards to ensure safe drinking water, most importantly a requirement for water systems to replace lead pipes nationwide within 10 years. The LCRI is being challenged by American Water Works Association.

 

“Reducing lead in our drinking water shouldn’t be controversial,” said Attorney General Kaul. “This common-sense rule that helps protect people’s health should remain in place.”

 

Enacted in 1991, the Lead and Copper Rule is designed to protect public health and safety by reducing the harmful exposure to lead and copper in drinking water. Lead, a highly toxic heavy metal, can adversely affect almost every organ and bodily system. It is particularly dangerous for children since their developing brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to its damaging effects. Lead exposure can cause a range of health problems, including premature birth, learning disabilities, delayed physical development for children, and cardiovascular and kidney problems for adults. The EPA has determined that no amount of lead in drinking water is safe.

 

Most lead enters drinking water from corrosion of pipes, faucets, fixtures, and solder that contain lead or brass, and is exacerbated if water quality parameters such as alkalinity and mineral content are not carefully controlled to minimize corrosion. Dangerous levels of lead are disproportionately found in low-income communities and communities of color, which typically have older houses and drinking water infrastructure and are more likely to be served by lead pipes.

 

The current LCRI contains important, health protective revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule to further minimize lead exposure from drinking water. For example, it includes a requirement to replace lead pipes within 10 years, and the lowering of the lead action level – the concentration of lead found in residential tap water samples which triggers corrosion control and other requirements – from 15 to 10 parts per billion. The first Trump Administration’s 2021 LCRR, in contrast, contained several provisions that weakened public health protections, such as reducing the required rate of lead pipe replacement from that of the Lead and Copper Rule.

 

Attorney General Kaul joins the attorneys general of California, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia.