Duckworth, Durbin Announce More Than $1 Million in Funding to Address Lead in Drinking Water

[SPRINGFIELD, IL] — U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—founding member and co-founder respectively of the Senate Lead Task Force—and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that Illinois will receive $1,093,000 to address lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These federal grant dollars will reduce lead exposure where children learn and play, maximizing the investment by impacting more members of the community at once, while advancing the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan.  

“Every American, no matter their zip-code, deserves access to safe drinking water,” Duckworth said. “I’m so proud we were able to secure this critical support to help ensure our children have access to safe drinking water at schools and daycare centers across Illinois. With this replacement program and funding made possible by my Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act, I’m committed to doing everything I can at the federal level to help achieve our goal of removing every lead pipe in America over the next decade.”

“As a nation, we bear the responsibility of nurturing and protecting our youngest citizens,” said Durbin. "Yet, we have witnessed the devastating consequences of neglecting the quality of their learning environments. With this funding, we persist in our mission to confront the lead crisis head-on by investing in the transformative power of prevention, ensuring every child has access to the clean, safe water they deserve and every family has peace of mind when sending their loved ones to school.”

The funding announced today was authorized by the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act and is provided to states, the District of Columbia, and participating territories as grants for lead testing and remediation in schools and childcare facilities. Since 2019, the Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Grant has provided more than $150 million in funding to conduct testing and removal of lead sources in drinking water in schools and childcare facilities across the U.S.

Up to 10 million homes and 400,000 childcare and education facilities nationwide are at risk of exposure to lead in tap water. In Illinois, the state reported more than 667,000 lead service lines (LSLs), and another almost 820,000 service lines of unknown material. Replacing LSLs statewide is estimated to cost $11.6 billion. Exposure to lead is harmful to health, especially for young children. In children, low levels of exposure have been linked to damage to the nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells.  

Following the 2016 report of lead in Chicago’s drinking water, Durbin and then-Rep. Duckworth urged EPA to use its full authority and resources to address the issue, including reviewing the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) and immediate notification of lead contamination. In March 2021, Durbin and Duckworth sent a letter to EPA urging it to update the LCR.

Durbin, Duckworth, and Sen. Booker, members of the Senate Lead Taskforce, led 87 of their colleagues supporting EPA’s proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) and urging for more community protections and expedited removal of all lead pipes. Last March, Durbin and Duckworth sent letters to five Medicaid managed care companies (MCOs) in Illinois, urging them to address lead poisoning risks to children in Chicago by preemptively sending drinking water test kits, water filters, home visitors, and educational materials to all enrolled children in the city.

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