Senators Introduce Legislation to Reduce Lead Exposure in Drinking Water

On September 22, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) along with Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced new legislation to reduce exposure to lead from water service lines. The bill titled the Financing Lead Out of Water (FLOW) Act would make it easier for cities and utilities to issue bonds to finance replacement projects. Specifically, the FLOW Act “provides an explicit guarantee in the tax code to allow public water utilities to issue tax-exempt bonds to help pay for the removal and replacement of both the publicly- and privately-owned lead service lines, resolving the full scale of the issue for residents in areas with lead pipes.” The bill also helps funds from the American Rescue Plan Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law make “a deeper impact on replacing the nation’s essential water infrastructure.” The FLOW Act’s full text can be found here.