A new federal rule will require the removal of lead pipes in the St. Louis region.
The Environmental Protection Agency will now require drinking water systems to find and replace those pipes within 10 years to comply with a final policy the Biden administration issued Tuesday.
St. Louis is estimated to have the seventh-most service lines containing lead pipe in the U.S., according to an analysis of federal data by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
That was based on estimates from states, but this new regulation will require more in-depth investigation.
“This rule does require utilities to get more specific in identifying and locating dangerous pipes,” said Valerie Baron, a senior attorney with NRDC. “But for now, we know that lead pipes are something that folks in St Louis ought to be aware of and concerned about.”
Drinking water providers are already in the process of reporting more detailed information about lead pipes to comply with a federal deadline this month, said Jeff Pinson, the inorganics monitoring unity chief at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Almost a third of those systems have submitted lead service line inventories ahead of an Oct. 16 deadline.
“We don't know exactly how big the problems are and the issues are, but a lot of the older cities, especially ones along the river and the ones that were railroad towns, will probably have more lead than some of the other towns,” Pinson said.
In St. Louis, Pinson said lead pipes were not commonly installed after the 1920s and '30s, although there was a brief period during World War II when they were again used to free up other materials for the war effort.
The EPA announced Missouri will receive $40.5 million in new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to support the effort to remove lead pipes. That is in addition to federal funding already sent to the state for this work.
Many remaining lead pipes are in lower-income communities and communities of color, according to the EPA. Lead is a neurotoxin that is dangerous for humans, especially for children. Exposure to lead at a young age can damage the brain and cause learning and behavior problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’ve known for decades that lead exposure has serious long-term impacts for children’s health,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in a press release. “And yet, millions of lead service lines are still delivering drinking water to homes. President Biden is putting an end to this generational public health problem.”
The new federal rule lowers the threshold of lead in water that would require action from 15 parts per billion to 10. It also includes new requirements to notify the public about lead pipes and plans to replace them.
