The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it will spend $3 billion to help states and territories identify and replace lead water pipes.
“The science is clear, there is no safe level of lead exposure, and the primary source of harmful exposure in drinking water is through lead pipes,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said, announcing the funding Thursday in an agency news release.
Lead poses serious health risks and can cause irreversible brain damage in children.
The funding announced Thursday is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021. It sets aside $15 billion overall to identify and replace lead pipes.
I’m not trying to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but this is being sold as a cure when it’s a band-aid.
True, wish they’d add, “This will fix approximately x% of pipes across the nation!”
But I know why they can’t do that, “politics”, because there is a considerable amount of people who would say, 5/10/15%! That’s awful, I’m voting for the guy who founded the lead pacifier company! He’s tall!
But… when you consider :
1, We consider cave people to be stupid
2, Not enough time has passed for the brain to evolve since we were cave people
It makes a bit more sense, we truly are standing on the shoulders of giants. Or in other words, humans are real ducking dumb. We’re all cave people.
Cave people didn’t have lead poisoning either
The main thing it is not a federal task force or anything, so it will be funding given to state and local governments that have already failed or even outright refused to replace lead pipes.
Like for example: DeSantis will replace pipes in certain areas but will undoubtedly only identify them in others.
Guess which areas won’t be getting them replaced first if at all in terms of demographics…