“We’re finally addressing an issue that should have been addressed a long time ago in this country: the danger that lead pipes pose to our drinking water,” President Joe Biden said announcing the rule in Milwaukee, adding that it “had not been given the national priority it demanded.”

Roughly 9 million U.S. homes now receive water through lead pipes, says EPA, with 367,000 pipes estimated to have been replaced since Biden has been in office, according to the White House. The final rule replaces a contentious Trump-era rule, finalized in 2020 and in effect since 2021 that lengthened the timeline for lead replacement by decades while reducing acceptable levels of lead in water specified in the prior 1991 rule. 

Biden in 2021 set aside $15 billion from the infrastructure law toward pipe replacement, and $11.7 billion through Drinking Water State Revolving Funds for pipe replacement and drinking water projects.

While that funding is “all helpful in closing the funding gap,” for replacement, said David LaFrance, CEO of American Water Works Association, the water utility member organization says the real compliance costs are potentially more than $90 billion.

Still, LaFrance called the rule “another important step” in efforts to reduce lead exposure, adding that water systems across the U.S. are “nearing completion of their initial lead service line inventories,” under an Oct. 16 deadline set previously. “Updating these inventories over time, as required by the [final rule], is critical to assuring continued progress on lead line removal and building a shared understanding of where lead risks remain.”

Environmental groups hailed the rule. “Lead contamination is a longstanding public health emergency, and the ... rule is a monumental step forward in addressing the urgent need for safe, clean drinking water,” said Patrice Simms, Earthjustice vice president.