March 31, 2021

Duckworth, Durbin Urge EPA to Strengthen Safe Drinking Water Protections in Illinois and Nationwide

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chair of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Fisheries, Water and Wildlife Subcommittee—which has legislative jurisdiction over the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act—and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the Senators urged the agency to use its full authority and resources to safeguard public health, particularly children who are at risk of suffering permanent and irreversible brain damage as a result of ingesting lead through tap water. The Senators also asked that EPA include a representative from Illinois in any stakeholder outreach events or roundtables held regarding this rule making. These citizens will be some of the most effected by the implications of this final rule, as the threat of lead-contaminated drinking water may be greatest in Illinois, which contains the most lead service lines of any state in the country.

“As is with many problems in our nation, this lead contamination is often the worst in Black and brown communities, with data from one predominantly Black community in Illinois showing as much as 5,300 ppb of lead in the drinking water,” the Senators wrote. “These chronic issues in Illinois and across the United States call for the toughest possible standards backed by science. We urge EPA to update and implement a Lead and Copper Rule that takes into account the best available science, protects the health of all Americans and will help reverse the existing inequities in access to safe drinking water.”

Lead is a known neurotoxin that can cause irreversible brain damage that results in lower IQ scores, developmental delays and behavior issues. A recent Chicago Tribune report showed that between 2015 and 2020, tap water measurements in dozens of Illinois homes had hundreds and even thousands of parts per billion of lead—just as extreme as what researchers found during the same period in Flint, Michigan.

Studies show the existing regulatory sampling protocol under the LCR misses the high lead levels and potential human exposure. Trump Administration updates to the LCR made only meager changes, maintaining the 15 part per billion action level—despite the consensus among public health officials that there is no safe level of lead.

Duckworth recently introduced legislation to invest in our nation’s crumbling water infrastructure. The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 would authorize more than $35 billion for water resource development projects across the country. EPW unanimously passed the bipartisan legislation out of committee last week. Duckworth also co-founded the Senate’s first-ever Environmental Justice Caucus.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee and the Environmental Justice Caucus, Durbin continues to fight to provide all Americans with access to safe drinking water. Durbin is a cosponsor of the Emergency Water and Energy is a Human Right Act, a bill that would provide assistance to low-income households for drinking water and wastewater services and prevent service disconnections during the COVID-19 crisis.

Full text of the letter is available below and here.

Dear Administrator Regan:

We write to express concern over the lead contamination in Illinois’ drinking water and request the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) use its full authority and resources to address the issue, including by updating the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) so that it protects public health and is backed by the best available science. We also ask that any stakeholder outreach include a representative from Chicago or Illinois as they are some of the areas most impacted by the outcome of this rule.

We applaud the U.S. EPA’s recent announcement to delay the implementation of the proposed Safe Drinking Water Act Lead and Copper Rule. For decades, this rule has been woefully inadequate, as highlighted by our nation’s ongoing crisis with lead-contaminated drinking water. Lead is a known neurotoxin that can cause irreversible brain damage, lower IQ scores, developmental delays and behavior issues. More than 400,000 deaths a year in the United States are linked to the toxic metal.

In 2013, a peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Science & Technology showed that “the existing regulatory sampling protocol under the U.S. Lead and Copper Rule systematically misses the high lead levels and potential human exposure.” Yet the Trump Administration’s updates to the LCR made only meager changes, maintaining the 15 part per billion (ppb) “action level”—despite the consensus among public health officials that there is no safe level of lead—and giving utilities a longer timeline to replace lead-tainted service lines.

Illinois is an epicenter of this crisis: our state has more service lines made of the toxic metal than any other state. The city of Chicago has more than any other city in the United States. A recent article in the Chicago Tribune highlights these challenges, noting that between 2015 and 2020, tap water measurements in dozens of Illinois homes showed hundreds and even thousands of parts per billion of lead—just as extreme as what researchers found during the same period in Flint, Michigan. As is with many problems in our nation, this lead contamination is often the worst in Black and brown communities, with data from one predominantly Black community in Illinois showing as much as 5,300 ppb of lead in the drinking water.

These chronic issues in Illinois and across the United States call for the toughest possible standards backed by science. We urge EPA to update and implement a Lead and Copper Rule that takes into account the best available science, protects the health of all Americans and will help reverse the existing inequities in access to safe drinking water. Given the extensive amount of lead service lines in Illinois, and Chicago specifically, we also ask that you include a representative from Illinois or Chicago in any stakeholder outreach events you hold. These citizens will be some of the most effected by the implications of this final rule, making their input vital to the process. Your attention to this issue is critical as EPA is the last line of defense in safeguarding public drinking water.

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