These systems are all over the country, including at least one in 49 of the 50 states (none were recorded in Hawaii). Also included are water systems in some Tribal lands and U.S. territories.
More than 10% of these systems (serving over 11 million people), exceeded the 10 ppb action level multiple times. In New York City, for example, there were five separate reporting periods when lead levels in drinking water exceeded the new action level.
And, although lead in drinking water is sometimes viewed as exclusively a big-city problem, almost half of these systems serve areas that are 100% rural, serving a combined population of about 459,000. (Many others, too, are predominantly rural.)
The full list even includes four military bases (Vance AFB, in Oklahoma; Kings Bay Submarine Base, in Georgia; Hanscomb AFB, in Massachusetts; Newport Naval Station, in Rhode Island) where service members and their families are exposed to lead in drinking water.
Even national parks aren’t spared. The list includes water systems that serve some of the lodging at Yellowstone and Death Valley.
How does the Lead Action Level work?
All utilities must perform periodic testing for lead in tap water in a certain number of homes. If results at 10% or more of the homes exceed the Lead Action Level—which the new rule tightened to 10 parts per billion (ppb)—then the utility must install or improve corrosion control treatment before water leaves their water treatment plant. This centralized treatment can help reduce lead exposure at the tap systemwide. It reduces (but does not eliminate) the risk that lead will leach into water from the insides of pipes and other plumbing, including pipes buried outside a home and lead-bearing plumbing located inside of buildings (such as lead solder and common lead-containing brass faucets).
Utilities exceeding the Lead Action Level must also ramp up efforts to notify residents of lead risks (although the rule’s public education provisions are still far short of what they should be). If there are multiple action level exceedances, under the updated EPA rule they must also distribute water filters for home use.
Scientists agree there’s no safe level of lead. But with new rule’s lower Lead Action Level, more water systems will at least take these common sense steps to help protect their communities, which benefit people who have lead service lines (while they await replacement of their lines as required by the new rule) and those who don’t.*
What happens next?
The new action level applies only to future tap sampling results. But the past five years’ sampling results, shown in the map, illustrate how widespread exceedances of 10 ppb have been. And with the improved the methods for tap water sampling under the new rule, even more instances of elevated lead levels should be detected in the future. That means the new rule is expected to result in a lot more communities getting the benefit of enhanced corrosion control, as well as more public education about lead risks and, in some cases, home water filters.
But tens of millions of people could lose out on those protections—and be left with lead pipes delivering their water—if Congress repeals the rule.
Instead, let’s move ahead toward the vital work of implementing these new health protections. Our kids and grandkids will thanks us for it.
NOTE:
*Corrosion control is definitely not a substitute for replacing lead service lines, which are the largest source of lead in drinking water. But when used properly, it does help reduce everyone’s risk of lead exposure.
