Lead Water Rules Challenged in Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Seeking to block a landmark rule that will protect the health of tens of millions of Americans from the widespread scourge of lead-contaminated drinking water, the American Water Works Association, a water utility trade association, today filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule mandates the removal of lead pipes that have contaminated the water in communities across the nation.

The lawsuit to block the EPA's lead rule comes almost 50 years to the day after President Ford signed the Safe Drinking Water Act to end the national tap water contamination epidemic.

Following is a reaction by Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director for health at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

"Filing a lawsuit to keep lead in drinking water is deplorable. Who supports lead-contaminated drinking water? No one wants to give their children a glass of leaded water, which causes irreversible damage to developing brains. Drinking water contamination is the number oneenvironmental worry for people across the nation. Yet water utilities are seeking to use the courts to keep lead in our tap water.

"Removing lead from drinking water protects health and saves lives. Replacing every lead pipe, as directed by the EPA, is an investment in our shared future, yielding at least 14 timesthe health and economic benefits compared to the cost. The combination of a strong lead rule and the billions of dollars in federal funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is an important legacy accomplishment that will begin to reverse the massive public health disaster of lead-contaminated tap water that threatens generations of our children."

NRDC is evaluating with its frontline partners whether to intervene in this dangerous lawsuit to help defend EPA's rule and to protect the public from the long-lived national curse of lead-contaminated tap water.

Additional Resources:

Welcoming the EPA's New Lead in Tap Water Rule: An Overview(blog)

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).