EPA Stops in Pittsburgh to Celebrate Lead Service Line Replacement Achievements

Part of Nationwide Tour Highlighting Efforts to Protect Americans from Lead in Drinking Water
EPA Lead Media Event 2024 PWSA CEO Will Pickering is joined by city, state, and federal representatives and members of our board at a lead line removal site in the Garfield neighborhood.

Pittsburgh, PA – Today, Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority (PWSA) hosted the EPA Head of Water Bruno Pigott and local elected officials to celebrate our Community Lead Response’s achievements and highlight the importance of lead service line replacement. This comes after this month’s announcement by EPA of the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, a major advancement in protecting children and adults from the significant, and irreversible, health effects from being exposed to lead in drinking water. 

“EPA is committed to ensuring that all people have clean and safe drinking water and Pittsburgh is leading the way,” said Bruno Pigott, EPA Head of Water. “By replacing more than 11,800 old lead pipes that can contaminate water, residents have safer water today and for future generations,” he stated. “The Biden-Harris Administration is providing $15 billion to remove lead pipes across the nation and this month EPA announced new requirements ensuring that communities across the country replace their lead pipes in the next 10 years,” Pigott continued. “These efforts protect children from exposure to a potent neurotoxin while replacing these pipes creates good-paying jobs. That’s the win-win of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America Agenda,” he said. 

Ready to Meet the Challenge 

Our Community Lead Response prioritizes free lead service line replacements in our most vulnerable communities. Paired with free lead testing, transparent data available on our website, and a Community Lead Response Advisory Committee, it became a national leader in lead line removal efforts.  

The new Lead and Copper Rule will require utilities to meet the following standards: 

  • Achieve 100% lead pipe replacement within 10 years – we are on track to replace all lead service lines by 2027. 
  • Locate legacy lead pipes – we have developed a robust inventory and identified the vast majority of lead pipes in our water system. 
  • Improving tap sampling – we only test homes with a known lead pipe and are prepared for more comprehensive water sampling laid out in the regulation. 
  • Lowering the lead action level to 10 parts per billion – our lead levels are well below the new action level thanks to the addition of orthophosphate to our treatment process. 

Tapping into Federal Funding 

This work requires substantial investment by water utilities. To get the lead out while balancing the other infrastructure needs of the system, we have aggressively pursued state and federal funding, like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which has set aside $15 billion towards lead service line replacements.  

The project highlighted today, in the Garfield neighborhood, is funded by low interest loans and grants, which will save ratepayers millions of dollars over time compared to traditional funding. Just last week, we announced a $69 million BIL funded water main replacement project, which will replace 10 miles of water main and hundreds of lead service lines.  

“We have so far received over $149 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This is the most BIL funding awarded through PENNVEST in the entire state,” stated Will Pickering PWSA’s CEO. “We thank the Biden-Harris Administration, EPA, the Board of PENNVEST, and Governor Shapiro for their support. We will continue to tap into this important source of support from our federal partners,” Pickering stated. 

Confidence in Water Quality 

There is no safe level of lead in drinking water, which is why we have committed to removing lead lines at no cost now while this pivotal funding is available. Removal of lead lines ensures that families across our service area can drink and cook with their tap water, knowing it is safe and reliable. 

“The burden of maintaining our infrastructure should not be on our community alone,” said Congresswoman Summer Lee. “Support from our state and federal partners to fund this work is crucial, and there is no better example of this than lead pipes,” the Congresswoman stated. “I commend PWSA for so aggressively working towards replacing lead service lines in the most vulnerable communities where it is needed most,” she stated.  

“Customers of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority can have confidence that the water they rely on for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and personal hygiene has a clean bill of health,” said State Representative Lindsay Powell. “PWSA is on an impressive journey, and I commend their leadership, board of directors, and the community advocates who have transformed it into a public asset we can be proud of,” she said.   

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