ANHE Executive Director Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN issued the following statement: “We appreciate the Biden administration’s priority of replacing all lead service lines in the next ten years. As nurses, we know that access to safe lead-free drinking water is essential for families to live healthy and productive lives, as there is no safe level of lead. Yet, in states across the nation, children, especially children of color, are exposed to lead in their tap water at home and at school because of lead service lines. We strongly encourage the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take steps to ensure that water remains safe throughout lead service line replacement and urge EPA to set health based standards for lead in drinking water and continue lowering action levels until water does not exceed lead concentrations of 1 ppb. Communities across the country should be protected from exposure to lead and we urge EPA to quickly finalize the most thorough and health protective Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) Improvements as soon as possible and finalize a rule that prioritizes replacing all lead service lines within 10 years.”

Please see the following comments that were submitted to EPA. Thanks to the 24 groups below that signed onto these comments.