President Biden announced a new rule Tuesday requiring water utilities to replace all lead pipes within a decade, a move intended to eliminate the threat posed by contaminated water. “For too long, local communities have known how important it was to deal with this problem,” he said in Milwaukee. “It hadn’t been given the national priority it demanded though. I’m here today to tell you that I am finally insisting that it gets prioritized, and I’m insisting it get done.” The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new rule comes nearly 40 years after Congress determined lead pipes posed a public health risk and banned their use in new construction. Exposure to lead can lead to myriad health issues, including brain and nervous system damage in children, and high blood pressure, heart disease and memory problems in adults. The push to eliminate all lead pipes gained steam following the 2014 water crisis in Flint, Michigan, when a water supply switch caused lead pipes to corrode, resulting in contamination of the city’s water and exposing tens of thousands of residents to toxins. More than 9 million homes across the country are still supplied by lead pipes, including in major cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit. The EPA estimates that replacing all the lead pipes could cost at least $45 billion, and the Biden administration secured $15 billion to give to states through the bipartisan infrastructure law to replace the pipes. So far, the administration has spent $9 billion, enough to replace up to 1.7 million pipes. On Tuesday, the president announced another $2.6 billion in funding. #joebiden #leadpipe #leadpoisoning #epa #cspan - @cspanofficial