{"id":13015,"date":"2024-05-09T15:05:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T20:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=13015"},"modified":"2026-03-17T14:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:35:36","slug":"biden-announces-3b-to-replace-lead-pipes-more-money-going-to-states-with-greatest-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2024\/05\/09\/biden-announces-3b-to-replace-lead-pipes-more-money-going-to-states-with-greatest-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Announces $3B to Replace Lead Pipes \u2013 More Money Going to States with Greatest Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lindsay McCormick<\/a>, Senior Manager, Safer Chemicals and Roya Alkafaji<\/a>, Manager, Healthy Communities\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s New?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

President Biden recently <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> $3 billion in federal funding for lead service line replacement. In the third year of this historic $15 billion investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace harmful lead pipes across the U.S., there is an effort to shift where the money is going to better reflect states\u2019 needs. While many saw no or minimal change, others \u2013 like Texas, and Minnesota \u2013 saw major changes to their funding allotments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

An estimated 9 million homes and businesses in the U.S. still receive their drinking water through harmful lead pipes. To make the best use of the federal funds aimed at protecting public health, it is critical that the money flows to the states with the greatest need, based on their estimated number of lead service lines without delay.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

EPA\u2019s <\/span>7<\/span>th<\/span> Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment<\/span><\/a> (DWINSA), which is the best current estimate of lead service lines across the nation, is the driver for FY23 and FY24 funding allotments. To best reflect the latest information, EPA allowed states and water utilities to submit a \u201cone-time update\u201d to service line information in the fall 2023, thus taking advantage of utilities\u2019 ongoing efforts to inventory their service lines. The goal, which was partially achieved, was to more accurately allocate the funding based on need.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Changed<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

EPA <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a> that 67% of water systems provided a response to the DWINSA update. While we do not know the magnitude of the changes to the state-level lead service line projections as EPA has not yet made this information public *<\/a>, we do know how it has impacted the funding allotments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, Illinois received the most funding ($241 million), followed by Florida ($229 million), and Ohio ($184 million). Twenty-six states received the minimum allotment of $28.7 million.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Funding allotment changes ranged from minimal to major:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n