Water utilities will be required to test for lead at schools and childcare facilities.
Six years after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, the Environmental Protection Agency is adopting an overhaul of decades-old regulations targeting lead in drinking water. On Tuesday, the EPA announced its new rules involving lead and copper water lines.
The 409-page updated version will for the first time require water utilities to test for lead at schools and child-care facilities and establish a new “trigger level” for contamination at which systems must review their water treatment procedures and consult with regulators on potential improvements.
The rules also close some loopholes that involved pipes that contained lead, and extends the time for replacing pipes with high levels of contamination.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said, “This historic action strengthens every aspect of the lead and copper rule and will help accelerate reductions of lead in drinking water and better protect our children and communities.”
Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that accumulates in the body and is particularly damaging to young children, causing brain damage, developmental and behavioral problems, and learning disabilities. There are no safe levels of lead exposure for children.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For all Americans to be able to have safe water to drink.
- For the EPA as they seek to protect children.
- For the children of Flint, Michigan, who were adversely affected by the high levels of lead in their drinking water.
Sources: Washington Post, Reuters
