CHICAGO — A proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aims to eliminate lead in pipes in American cities over the next 10 years, but Chicago’s process will take much longer.
Chicago, which has by far the most lead pipes out of any city in the U.S. — about 400,000, according to AP News — is among the cities that qualify for a limited exception to the plan. The proposal will push back deadlines for cities with a high proportion of lead service lines.
For Chicago, replacing lead pipes could take at least 40 years and up to $12 billion dollars, Andrea Cheng, the city’s water commissioner, told ABC7. Replacing 400,000 lead pipes in 10 years is not feasible for the city, she said.
The EPA proposal aims to improve the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule, which established a goal of zero lead in drinking water and a treatment strategy for reducing lead and copper corrosion in water distribution systems.
Lead pipes have caused health issues nationwide for decades, according to studies of the 2016 water crisis in Flint, Michigan and federal research on the issue in Chicago. Health experts warn there is no level of lead in water that is safe for children and vulnerable groups.
Chicago installed lead services lines until Congress banned the practice in 1986.
A 2018 Tribune analysis of test kits distributed throughout the city showed 70 percent of nearly 2,800 homes found lead in their water over the previous two years.
Biden’s proposal, which must still undergo two months of public comment, would ask Chicago to replace no more than 10,000 lead pipes per year, according to the Sun-Times.
Since September 2022, most low-income Chicagoans have been eligible to have the city replace their lead service lines for free, a program that can save people up to $30,000. The Equity Lead Service Line Replacement Program started in 2020 alongside the Homeowner-Initiated Lead Service Line Replacement Program, which helps homeowners interested in replacing their pipes.
In November, the EPA announced a $336 million loan to Chicago through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program for lead pipe replacement. According to an EPA release, the city’s water department will use the money to replace up to 30,000 lead pipes that deliver water to homes around Chicago, creating about 2,700 jobs.
The loan should allow the city to replace lead service lines in single-family homes and small multi-unit buildings citywide, officials said at the time.
“It is the right of every resident of Chicago to have access to safe, clean drinking water,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in statement. “Nine of the top 10 Chicago ZIP codes with the largest percentages of high lead levels were neighborhoods with majority Black and Latinx residents, so I am committed to prioritizing these communities along with our child care centers, and addressing this long-standing danger in an equitable and cost-effective manner.”
Support Local News!
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? Click here to gift a subscription, or you can support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
