Bills
| 3.23.22

Do the EPA, States, and Water Utilities Need to Notify the Public About Lead Levels in Drinking Water? (H.R. 4470)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 4470?

(Updated November 19, 2021)

This bill would ensure that the public is informed of excessive lead levels in drinking water by establishing requirements for when states, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and drinking water utilities must communicate their findings.

A public notification would be required whenever the enforceable requirements for lead in drinking water are exceeded. Public water systems must notify consumers if the lead action level is exceeded in their drinking water system.

If a lead action level is exceeded for the 90th percentile of a public water system’s customers and has significant potential for adverse health effects, EPA must quickly notify the public if the state or local drinking water system fails to do so.

The EPA would be required to create a strategic plan for handling and improving the flow of information between drinking water utilities, the states, EPA, and affected drinking water consumers when the enforceable limit for lead in drinking water has been exceeded.

Consumer notifications would be required whenever water is being transported in a lead pipe that is corroded enough that lead could leach into public drinking water.

Argument in favor

This bill sets clear standards for when water utilities, states, and the EPA are responsible for notifying the public about lead contamination in drinking water to keep consumers informed and healthy.

Argument opposed

Coordination between state regulators, the EPA, and drinking water utilities is sufficient. The public is already alerted about unsafe lead levels in drinking water. This bill isn't needed to protect consumers.

Impact

Members of the public in areas with certain levels of lead in the drinking water, drinking water utilities, states, and the EPA.

Cost of H.R. 4470

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) introduced this bill to ensure that the public is notified that concentrations of lead in drinking water have exceeded federal requirements:

“When there are unacceptable levels of lead in people’s drinking water, they should immediately be told about it. This legislation, supported by Democrats and Republicans, strengthens notification requirements for the public and changes federal law to ensure that people are notified quickly when there are dangerous levels of lead in their drinking water. This is the latest action I’m taking in Congress to promote accountability and help Flint recover from this terrible man-made tragedy.”

Cosponsoring Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) praised this legislation for putting in place standards that “will ensure consumers are not kept in the dark” while forcing the EPA to fulfill “their fundamental duty to warn the public of high lead levels.”

This bill currently has 16 cosponsors in the House, including eight Republicans and seven Democrats.


Of Note: The Flint water crisis began in April 2014 when it was discovered that the city’s water source, the Flint River, was corroding the lead pipes carrying the water, which in turn caused lead to leach into the drinking water supply. Between 6,000 and 12,000 children in Flint were exposed for some period of time to lead in their drinking water, and as a result United Way has embarked on a campaign to raise $100 million for them over a 10-15 year period.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: By National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from USA - Lead testing, Public Domain)