On October 8, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), a final rule on lead service line replacement mandating that drinking water systems nationwide inventory and make plans to replace all their lead service lines within 10 years. Ingesting lead is unsafe at any level, leading to slowed growth, behavioral problems, brain and nervous system damage in children, and reproductive, cognitive and cardiovascular problems in adults. One common way people ingest lead is by drinking tap water connected to water service lines made with lead that have corroded. With an estimated 9.2 million lead service lines nationwide, identifying and replacing these lines is a necessary, daunting and costly task.
Local governments and their water systems must reckon with added regulations, tight timelines, managing community concerns and insufficient available funding and data to remove these lead lines. Of the nearly 150,000 public water systems in the U.S., the LCRI will apply to approximately 50,000 community water systems and 17,000 non-transient, non-community water systems across the country.
As local governments navigate regulations and public health risks, NLC is here to help with resources that clarify requirements, provide recommendations and share best practices.
Timeline:
- 1991: Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) released
- January 2021: Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) released
- October 8, 2024: Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) released
- October 16, 2024: LCRR compliance date for initial inventory and updated public notification requirements
- November 1, 2027: LCRI compliance date with lower action level, updated sampling requirements, developing lead service line replacement plan and updated public education and outreach requirements
- November 1, 2037: Community water systems must complete replacement of all lead service lines
NLC created factsheets to guide communities through the process of lead service line replacement by outlining requirements, best practices and examples from municipalities across the country. The first factsheet dives into inventorying, monitoring and creating replacement plans for lead service lines. The second factsheet includes requirements and recommendations to communicate risks and program progress with residents.
Webinar Recordings
NLC partnered with the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative (LSLRC) to help municipal leaders identify opportunities to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water and replace lead service lines. In 2021, NLC and LSLRC hosted a series of tele-town halls for local officials to dig deeper into the Lead and Copper Rule requirements, share best practices among peers, learn about funding and financing opportunities for lead service line replacement, ask questions of experts and obtain other critical information necessary to set cities on the path toward compliance.
