Photo Courtesy of Sen. Schumer
“There is nothing more important than keeping New York’s children’s drinking water safe,” Sen. Schumer said.
By Forum Staff
The infrastructure and jobs bill that was recently signed into law by President Joe Biden will deliver major victories to help ensure clean water in New York and eliminate toxic lead pipes, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced.
Schumer said that the infrastructure bill makes one of the largest federal investments in water infrastructure and eliminating lead service pipes in history. He also noted that there is $15 billion in the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund specifically for lead service pipe replacement included in the bill. He also detailed other programs included in the legislation to help eliminate lead pipes in New York.
Schumer said that New York has approximately 360,000 lead pipes still delivering water to people’s homes, the fourth largest number of lead service lines in the country. Schumer said that lead is known to cause severe health problems for children and adults alike, including damage to the brain and nervous systems, cardiovascular diseases, and adverse effects on the reproductive system and kidneys. With the bipartisan infrastructure deal’s new cash infusion, New York will have access to additional funds needed to replace lead water pipes across the city and state, which will both protect public health and boost local union jobs.
Schumer highlighted the below additional programs included in the legislation to help eliminate lead pipes in NY:
- Lead Contamination in School Drinking Water: The Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing Grant is authorized for $200 million over the next five years. The program is also amended to make public water systems and eligible nonprofit organizations that service schools and childcare locations eligible grant recipients. It also expands the program to allow funds to be used for compliance monitoring as well as lead reduction projects.
- Technical Assistance and Grants for Emergencies Affecting Public Water Systems: The legislation extends an expired authority in the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide resources to communities that face a public water system emergency. The fund will help mitigate drinking water threats to public health, and is amended to expand the definition of emergency situations to include an intrusion of lead into the drinking water supply or an emergency situation resulting from a cybersecurity event. The program is reauthorized at $35 million for each of fiscal years from 2022 through 2026.
- Assistance for Small and Disadvantaged Communities Program: The program is expanded to allow for use of funds to purchase filters and filtration systems that remove contaminants of concern from public drinking water systems and for providing information regarding proper filtration use and maintenance and options regarding replacing lead service lines or other sources of lead from water systems and technical assistance. The program is authorized for a total of $510 million over the next five years.
“There is nothing more important than keeping New York’s children’s drinking water safe, and this legislation will make the largest federal investment ever solely dedicated to getting toxic lead pipes out of our communities—which will both protect public health and boost family-sustaining union jobs,” Schumer said.
