Rep Kildee Introduces New Lead Bill
On April 6, Rep. Dan Kildee introduced HR 1974, the National Opportunity for Lead Exposure Accountability and Deterrence (NO LEAD) Act. Although still not available on Congress.gov, the measure amends the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) to require revisions to occur not later than nine months of enactment. The bill has been referred to the House Energy & Commerce Committee for consideration.
The bill contains extremely detailed lists of what the revisions must include. For example, not less than once every three months, a public water system shall report the results of sampling to EPA or the primacy agency and include: number of, date of, and address for residential/nonresidential facilities sampled; any previous sampling results; if known, the material composition of the service lines; highest and median lead and copper levels detected and the 90th percentile; disinfectants and corrosion inhibitors being used and target doses at the treatment plant; any changes in type, method or quantity of treatments used since the previous report; history of violations and fines; number of invalidated samples and the reason why; and if sampling is conducted at residential facilities other than those with lead service lines, an explanation of why such sampling was conducted.
EPA must develop an annual sampling protocol that prohibits the use of techniques that minimize detection; includes criteria for site selection that prioritizes testing at high-risk buildings; requires sampling in all schools and child care centers at all designated drinking water taps (as designated by the schools and child care centers); and requires that the sampling methodology be scientifically based.
EPA or the primacy agency shall conduct onsite investigations to identify lead sources at facilities with individual samples that have a lead or copper concentration above the action level. There are specific requirements for how these investigations must be conducted and notifications made to persons served.
Additional rule revisions contain very specific requirements for public education and sharing testing results. Further, public water systems must develop and maintain a publicly available inventory of the material composition of service lines at all residential and nonresidential facilities including online maps and a history of services performed on the lines, including partial line replacement.
Finally, the bill calls for EPA to revise the national primary drinking water regulation for lead to ensure that the action level for lead in drinking water is no greater than 10 ppb by December 31, 2020 and no more than 5 ppb by December 31, 2026.
No funds are authorized for any of these activities and it’s not clear how likely this bill is to be passed, given all of the other issues Congress is working on.
