The EPA estimates that nine million homes in the U.S. have lead pipes.

President Biden on Tuesday announced $2.6 billion in funding to replace all lead pipes in the United States as part of a new EPA rule that will require lead pipes to be identified and replaced within 10 years using the new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

    • BakerBagel@midwest.social
      5·
      6 hours ago

      The Fed isn’t earmarking the money to dig up and replace each pipe. It’s grant money for municipalities to apply for to fix their pipes. So maybe it’s gonna cost Citytown Ohio $24 million to swap their pipes. The city can issue a bond for $16 million, get a grant from the state for an additional $6 million, amd a federal grant for the remaining $2 million. Meanwhile, the federal government wont issue anymore funding for their water treatment facilities until all the lead pipes are removed. So Citytown can either get off their ass and start digging up pipes next month, or be SOL when their sewage treatment facility needs an overhaul in 8 years.

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
      29·
      10 hours ago

      The $2.6 billion is just the latest round of funding for this. Generally every once in a while, you’ll see one or two billion in funding announced for lead pipe removal.

      Edit: I just looked it up, and the state with the second-most lead pipes, Illinois, estimates $11.6 billion to get rid of their 667,000 known lead pipes, and there are over 800,000 whose material is unknown.

      Edit 2: it looks like $20 to $30 billion is the overall estimate.