CLEVELAND — Getting lead out of pipes is the new plan from the Biden administration and United States EPA. For the first time ever, it would require all cities in the country to replace lead water pipes. In Ohio, some environmental leaders are excited about the push, but the Ohio EPA is navigating what the next steps will look like.
Yvanka Hall is the president of CLASH — Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing. Since she was young, she's seen the negative effects of lead poisoning.
“We see hypertension, we see kidney failure, which is directly related to lead poisoning as a child. So, lead is something that follows you throughout your life,” said Hall.
Since 2017, through her group CLASH, she's worked to help make Cleveland lead safe, specifically in homes. What gives her hope is the federal government’s recent push for safer drinking water.
“One of the things that we do know is that our service lines in the city have not been replaced since 1954,” said Hall.
Thursday, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal that will change the lead and copper rule, which will require water systems to remove all the lead pipes in their cities.
"There's a 10-year timeline for replacing lead service lines. That's never been a part of the lead and copper rule before,” said Melanie Houston, the Managing Director of Water Policy for the Ohio Environmental Council.
Houston says this is a major update from protocols in the past that only required testing and sampling, but it will take lots of time and money for companies to prepare for it.
“The important part is that communities really try to leverage those federal and state dollars then...put together a package of funding from their local revenue sources,” said Houston.
Anne Vogel, the director of the Ohio EPA, says for years, Governor Mike DeWine has pushed them to get lead pipe replacement plans in place, so this wasn’t too much of a surprise.
“We have some of the most lead service lines in the country in Ohio, and it's largely in our legacy cities. So, we do have a lot of experience, but we also have a lot of talented operators and public water systems who have been hacking away at this for a long time,” said Vogel.
She added that a 10-year window will be tight due to challenges they'll face, including staffing, materials, access to properties and costs. Though the federal government is investing $15 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law to replace the 9.2 million lead service lines across the nation, it still is not enough.
“I think we've got a lot of work to do on the affordability side to make sure that that communities are prepared to take this on,” said Vogel.
The EPA is still breaking down the proposal and deciding what their plan of action will look like. For Hall, she is just happy to see positive change for the health of the community.
“I have talked to the mayor in the past and told him that lead is public enemy number one, and you hear him talk about it all the time, and so this is a way for us to address the public enemy,” said Hall.
The public will have a chance to comment on the proposal; as of now, there's no timeline for when it fully goes into effect.
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