Anne Bredemann

Associate Editor

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026

The movement to remove and replace lead pipes is nothing new in the United States. For decades, parts of the country have been working to get rid of lead pipes and replace them with alternatives that are much safer for human health. Progress, however, has generally been slow and lead pipes remain widely in use in many American cities. Earlier this month, President Biden announced the final deadline as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, giving the whole country ten years to expedite the process of removing and replacing all lead pipes.

Lead in drinking water historically

The earliest documentation of lead poisoning dates as far back as the second century BC. However, its toxicity was largely ignored because those affected were primarily artisans and, more broadly, workers of a low social class, whose health and conditions were not protected in general. Today, lead is notoriously known to contaminate drinking water and can cause severe impacts to humans’ central nervous systems, blood pressure, cardiovascular systems, and reproductive organs. Children are particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of lead. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that children who are exposed to lead poisoning may be left with permanent cognitive disabilities and behavior disorders, as well as decreased intellectual development.

According to recent data released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Illinois has the highest number of lead service lines (LSLs), pipes that deliver water from a main to a home, out of any state in the country with over an estimates 380,000 pipes that are known to need replacement. This is in large part because Chicago’s city code required the use of lead service lines until they were banned by the federal government in 1986. Cleveland, New York, Detroit, Milwaukee, Denver, and Saint Louis are among the cities ranked highest in the EPA’s report. Interestingly, the EPA’s own Inspector General recently flagged the data from the EPA’s 2023 report, raising concerns about the accuracy of the numbers reported by states such as Florida and Texas.

Steps taken to remove the lead piping

In light of this crisis, the Biden Administration announced its aggressive plan in 2021 to replace all lead services lines within the next decade. This month, the Administration issued its final rule as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill which required that all lead service lines be replaced within 10 years, and the EPA announced $186,106,000 in new funding towards that goal.

The federal government has worked to regulate lead in water for decades with various legislation such as the 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act Lead Ban, the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule, and the 2011 Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act (RLDWA); but this plan is the most aggressive to date. Under the Lead and Copper Rule, Chicago would be exempt because it simply has too many lead pipes and would therefore be allowed 40 years to update their waterworks.

Benjamin Huynh, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has analyzed demographics and health metrics to predict levels of lead exposure from Chicago’s drinking water. His studies are based on a free, voluntary testing program that the city offers. He found that fewer than 10% of households are testing their water, and those that do are primarily in white, wealthier neighborhoods that are “actually less likely to have lead in the first place.” Chicago currently has a small lead service line replacement program where homeowners can initiate requests to remove the lead pipes and replace them with copper pipes for free. Additionally, the city has applied for a $336 million loan from the EPA in 2020.

The FDA sets the standard for lead in bottled water currently at 5ppb. Other health experts disagree about what constitutes safe amounts of lead –the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends setting levels of only 1ppb for school drinking fountains. Elin Betanzo, a water engineer who worked on the Flint crises, reviewed tests conducted for Chicago residents and found that more than a third of Chicago’s tests exceeded this amount. Interestingly, the EPA has a compliance measure that only requires cities to notify the public when at least 10% of a small sample of homes register with 15ppb of lead. Chicago, therefore, remains within legal compliance.

The result is that thousands of residents in Chicago are likely consuming water contaminated by lead at levels far higher than what health professionals warn is dangerous. The Biden Administration’s new ruling is a small win, but cities like Chicago must take the initiative to provide safe drinking water for their residents –now.