Letter Urging Support of Tlaib/Kildee/Slotkin/Cicilline/Moore Amendment (#95) to Authorize Funds to Remove Lead Service Lines in the Moving Forward Act (HR 2)

Download the PDF with the list of signers here.

To: Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

Re: Support Tlaib/Kildee/Slotkin/Cicilline/Moore Amendment (#95) to Authorize Funds to Remove Lead Service Lines in the Moving Forward Act (HR 2)

Dear Member of Congress:

We write on behalf of our members and as many as 22 million people¹ across the country who get their water from “lead service lines” that serve their homes with drinking water. These lead pipes can seriously contaminate tap water and threaten those who drink from them, especially children. We urge you to support Amendment (#95), offered by your colleagues Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Dan Kildee, Elissa Slotkin, David Cicilline and Gwen Moore to the Moving Forward Act (HR 2). This amendment would authorize $4.5 billion per year for 5 years to start removing many of the 6 to 10 million lead service lines² that contaminate our tap water.

The American Academy of Pediatrics³ has said lead-contaminated water can harm the developing brains of children. Lead disproportionately hurts kids⁴ in low-income communities and Black and other communities of color.

While most of us know about the lead contamination in the tap water of Flint, Michigan, few people realize that leadcontaminated drinking water is a nationwide problem⁵ , affecting every state. Action is long overdue, and we urge the House of Representatives to support the Tlaib/Kildee/Slotkin/Cicilline/Moore Amendment #95 to take a major step forward to address it.

The Amendment would prioritize funding for low-income “disadvantaged communities” (as defined in the Safe Drinking Water Act), as well as “environmental justice communities” that suffer from disproportionate environmental health threats. It would require that lead service lines must be fully replaced. This is important because partially removing a lead line and leaving the rest still in use can make the lead contamination worse, according to EPA’s Science Advisory Board⁶ and other experts. The Amendment would take a major step towards addressing what has been called “a long-running environmental catastrophe.”⁷ We urge the full House—and after that the U.S. Senate—to adopt this measure to finally launch a nationwide program to replace all lead service lines. We urge you to support action on this important problem now.

Download the PDF with the list of signers here.

_{1 Cornwell et al. National Survey of Lead Service Line Occurrence, JAWWA, 2016, available online at .}

_{2 EPA, LCR Revisions White Paper, 2016, available online at}

_{3 American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement: Prevention of Childhood Lead Toxicity, 2016, available online at pediatrics/early/2016/06/16/peds.2016-1493.full.pdf}

_{4 Cassidy-Bushrow, Andrea E et al. “Burden of higher lead exposure in African-Americans starts in utero and persists into childhood.” Environment international vol. 108 (2017): 221-227. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2017.08.021}

_{5 Dr. Kristi Pullen, NRDC, “What’s in Your Water? An Updated Analysis,” 2018, available online at}

_{6 EPA Science Advisory Board, “SAB Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Partial Lead Service Line Replacements,” 2011, available online at}

_{7 Werner Troesken, “The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster,” 2008, MIT Press, available online at .}