December 30, 2020 /
(On March 11, 2021, EPA announced it was extending the effective date for this rule so that it could gather more input from the public. In December, EPA announced it had completed its review, and the effective date of the Lead and Copper Rule Revision would be December 16, 2021. This extends the compliance deadline to October 16, 2024. HRG will continue to follow any actions associated with this rule.)
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized its changes to the Lead and Copper Rule on December 22, 2020. These are the first major changes to this rule since 1991, and they’ve been in development since 2014. The agency’s main goals in revising the rules were to do a better job of identifying the geographic areas that are most impacted by lead, increase sample reliability, provide better information to the public about lead in their community, and prioritize the protection of young children (who are most susceptible to the detrimental effects of lead on brain development). Here’s how the new rule will impact your water system:
Utilities must inventory their lead service lines and prepare an action plan for replacement within three years of the rule publication. This action plan must include financial strategies to execute the plan since cost has been a major impediment to service line replacement over the past 30 years.
Utilities will need to adjust their sampling procedures to test more homes and make sure all tests are conducted where pipes are known or likely to be lead. (Previously, up to 50% of the samples could be conducted in places without lead pipes.)
Utilities will need to evaluate their corrosion control at 10 parts per billion, instead of waiting to hit the 15 ppb action level. (Replacement triggers remain at 15 ppb, but the 10 ppb trigger warning is meant to encourage action before utilities hit the required action level.)
Utilities will need to test drinking water at 20% of the elementary schools and childcare centers in their service year every year for the first five years after the rule is published in the Federal Register. They must also share the results of those tests with the school or childcare center along with recommendations on actions the facility can take to reduce the lead in its drinking water.
Utilities will need to provide more information to the public about the prevalence of lead risk in their community. They must publish their inventory of lead service lines on a publicly accessible website, send annual notices to customers with known lead service lines, and notify customers at a sample site that has exceeded 15 ppb within 24 hours (instead of 30 days, as required by the previous rule).
Utilities will need to understand new tighter requirements around lead service line replacement:
Under the old rule, utilities that hit the 15 ppb threshold had to replace 7% of their known or likely LSLs per year, and that rate has been reduced to 3% per year in the new rule BUT
Partial line replacements previously counted toward the replacement requirement under the old rule, and they will not count toward the requirement under the new rule.
Also, utilities were required to replace service lines for at least one year after hitting the 15 ppb threshold under the previous rule, but they could stop replacing lead service lines after one year of samples below the action level. Some utilities avoided having to replace service lines by testing out of the requirement, but this loophole has been closed. Once a water system hits the 15 ppb threshold, they must replace at least 3% of their service lines for at least two years. Under the new rule, they cannot stop replacing lead service lines until after the two- year period has ended and the water system has successfully tested below the threshold for four consecutive, 6-month periods.
In addition, under the previous rule, the number of service lines that required replacement was a percentage of known or likely lead service lines only, but the new rule counts lines of unknown material in the calculation, too. Utilities that have a higher number of unknown pipes than known or likely pipes will, in effect, have a higher replacement rate under the new rule. (Thus, it is more important than ever before to have an asset management system that includes information like the material and location of all of your service lines. Read more of our Insights to learn what utility asset management is and the many benefits of asset management for water and wastewater systems.)
Water system managers should take time to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of the new requirements. They may also want to speak with their consulting engineer about conducting an inventory of their service lines and planning for any required replacements. An expert in utility financing can help the utility identify grant and loan opportunities for them and their customers to make service line replacements more affordable.
HRG CAN HELP
HRG’s engineers and financial experts are here to help you understand the requirements of the Lead and Copper Rule revisions. Please contact our experts with any questions you may have.