{"id":11736,"date":"2023-06-29T12:56:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T17:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=11736"},"modified":"2023-07-07T12:42:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T17:42:16","slug":"lead-pipe-survey-flaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2023\/06\/29\/lead-pipe-survey-flaws\/","title":{"rendered":"Flaws found in EPA\u2019s lead pipe survey of states and water utilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Deep Dive: <\/strong>Read our <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/deepdives\/2023\/06\/29\/lead-pipe-survey-flaws\/\">Deep Dives\u00a0blog<\/a> for an in-depth analysis on the data that drove the 2023 allocation of federal funding for lead service line replacements.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s New<\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>EPA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/system\/files\/documents\/2023-04\/Final_DWINSA%20Public%20Factsheet%204.4.23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recently estimated<\/a> there are 9.2 million lead service lines (LSLs) in the nation\u2019s drinking water infrastructure based on information reported by states and water utilities. This was collected as part of a survey conducted every four years to understand drinking water infrastructure needs.<\/p>\n<p>The agency estimated the number of LSLs for each state. Two had surprisingly high numbers: Florida with 1.2 million LSLs and Texas with 650,000.<\/p>\n<p>After reviewing data EPA used to estimate each state\u2019s totals<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>, we believe that these two may have less than 100,000 LSLs each. If true, this means the country may actually have about 1.6 million <em>fewer<\/em> LSLs than originally thought \u2013 good news overall.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why It Matters: <\/strong>EPA used the estimated LSLs for each state to allocate a share of the $3 billion dedicated to LSL replacement in this fiscal year. The allocations are already set for FY23 but could be adjusted for the next three years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Next Steps: <\/strong>This fall, states and utilities will have the opportunity to resubmit their responses, a decision made by EPA that we applaud. We believe this will lead to a more equitable allocation of LSL replacement funding for the next three years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> This data is readily available because of a <a href=\"https:\/\/foiaonline.gov\/foiaonline\/action\/public\/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=EPA-2022-003617&amp;type=Request\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) submission<\/a> by the Natural Resources Defense Council seeking the survey responses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deep Dive: Read our Deep Dives\u00a0blog for an in-depth analysis on the data that drove the 2023 allocation of federal funding for lead service line replacements. What&#8217;s New: EPA recently estimated there are 9.2 million lead service lines (LSLs) in the nation\u2019s drinking water infrastructure based on information reported by states and water utilities. This &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114036,114081,114106],"tags":[104,68,91754,91857,91787],"coauthors":[114052,114044],"class_list":["post-11736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-dives","category-drinking-water","category-lead","tag-drinking-water","tag-epa","tag-lead-in-drinking-water","tag-lead-service-line-replacement","tag-lead-service-lines"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11736"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}