The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the award of $6,816,000 from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to help American Samoa identify and replace lead service lines, preventing exposure to lead in drinking water.
Lead can cause a range of severe health impacts, including irreversible harm to brain development in children. The investment announced today, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and available through EPA’s successful Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), takes another major step to advance this work and environmental justice and bolsters the Administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan and Get the Lead Out Initiative.
Working collaboratively, EPA and American Samoa are advancing the President’s Justice40 Initiative to ensure that 40% of overall benefits from certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities, including those overburdened by lead exposure and pollution. Lead exposure disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income communities.
To date, the total funding announced through this program is expected to replace up to 1.7 million lead pipes nationwide, securing clean drinking water for countless families.
“Every single person living in American Samoa deserves access to clean, safe drinking water and a guarantee that they and their loved ones will be protected from lead contamination,” said Martha Guzman, EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is investing an unprecedented amount of funding to replace these harmful lead service lines, with communities at the greatest risk of lead poisoning prioritized.”
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $15 billion to identify and replace lead service lines. The law mandates that 49% of funds provided through the DWSRF General Supplemental Funding and DWSRF Lead Service Line Replacement Funding must be provided as grants and forgivable loans to disadvantaged communities.
EPA projects a national total of 9 million lead service lines across the country, based on data collected from the updated 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment.
The Lead Service Line-specific formula used to allot these funds allows states to receive financial assistance commensurate with their need as soon as possible, furthering public health protection nationwide. The formula and allotments are based on need — meaning that states with more projected lead service lines receive proportionally more.
Photo: Regional Administrator Martha Guzman
