Water Redefined: The Lead and Copper Updates Explained

Ingestion of lead is known to have significant adverse impacts on human health, especially for children. Ingested lead builds up in the body and impacts the brain, resulting in complications such as learning impairment and reduced cognition, damage to the kidneys and nervous system, and adverse effects on the reproductive system in both men and women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe level of lead exposure.

There are many potential sources that can expose humans to lead, such as consumer products, paint, dust, and soil. In the US, lead has been banned from products for years, and many sources of lead exposure are legacy sources like old house paint and lead-containing plumbing. For decades, the United States has had regulations in place intended to minimize and eliminate the public’s exposure to lead. When it comes to our drinking water systems, lead in plumbing was banned in 1986 and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Lead and Copper Rule in 1991, which sought to minimize exposure to lead in public water supplies.

A major update to the Lead and Copper Rule, known as the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) was recently announced by US EPA on October 8, 2024. The LCRI seeks to eliminate all lead water service lines (the pipes connecting the public water main to the building) in the US by 2037, requiring a major effort by all public water systems in the coming years. The LCRI regulation, including the preamble, is 890 pages long with a lot of detail and requirements. Here are some of the highlights:

• Service Line Inventories – Water systems were required to submit an initial inventory of service lines identifying materials of construction, whether known or unknown, by October 16, 2024. The inventory must be available to the public and must be updated annually. Within 30 days of submission, notices, including information about the adverse health effects of lead in drinking water, must have been sent to property owners and occupants of all properties served by service lines known to be made of lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or those constructed of unknown material.
• Compliance Date 3 years from Promulgation – The LCRI was published in the Federal Register on October 30, 2024, and the compliance date of the LCRI is November 1, 2027, which is when many new provisions will kick in. There are still many provisions of the new and prior rules that systems must meet during the next three years, including Tier 1 public notification of a lead action level exceedance (currently 15 ppb) and associated reporting requirements; use of the new health effects language for public notification; continuing to comply with the LCR requirements that were codified in July 2020; and annual reporting to the State by July 1 each year.
• Replacing all Lead Service Lines within 10 years – Water systems will be required to have identified and replaced all lead service lines within 10 years of the compliance date. This includes galvanized service lines that have ever been downstream of lead, known as galvanized requiring replacement. Water systems must replace service lines from the water main all the way to a building, whether or not the service line is owned by the water system or is privately owned. After significant efforts to gain access to make the replacement, the water system is granted access.
• Lead Service Line Replacement Plan – Water systems are required to submit an updated baseline service line inventory, a list of schools and child care facilities served, and a plan for replacing lead service lines by November 1, 2027).
• Lead Action Level is 10 parts per billion – Starting November 1, 2027, the regulatory Action Level for lead will be 10 ppb calculated as the 90th percentile of the samples taken, down from 15 ppb in the prior regulation. If the 90th percentile of samples exceeds 10 ppb, the water system will have to take actions related to public notification and education about lead health risks, water treatment or treatment optimization to minimize exposure to lead in the drinking water, and, in some circumstances, make water filter pitchers available to customers.
• Tap Water Sampling – The Lead and Copper Rule always required tap water sampling but the protocols are being revised. Standard sampling, including a first draw 1st and 5th liter, will be required twice a year and sample sites must be selected on a priority basis. Sampling from known homes served by lead service lines is the highest priority. The new protocol is intended to help capture water quality from the service lines and not just building plumbing. There are also additional requirements for water systems to be sampled at schools and childcare facilities.
• Reporting, Public Education, and Public Notification – Compared to prior regulation, there are much more intensive requirements for reporting, public education, and public notification under the LCRI. Specific language is mandatory. Fortunately, templates have been developed to help systems meet those requirements.

There are many more details and specific requirements in those 890 pages of requirements that couldn’t be covered in this overview. If you would like assistance in complying with the LCRI, please contact Rich Straut, P.E., B&L’s Water Resources Principal.