Austin is way ahead of the curve on federal effort to replace lead pipes

On the same day the Biden administration set a 10-year deadline for U.S. cities to remove all lead pipes, Austin announced that the city is officially 100 percent free of lead contamination in its public water system.

“I am proud of the City of Austin for being a leader in effectively banning lead in our public water infrastructure in 1954 – well before the federal ban in 1986,” Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax said in a press release Wednesday. “Austinites should be proud of our City’s long-standing efforts to protect health and safety.”

Lead has been banned in Austin’s public pipeline infrastructure since the 1950s, but as evidenced by the 2014 Flint, Michigan water crisis, getting rid of it can be difficult and time-consuming. (Some major utilities across the country, by contrast, required the use of lead pipe until the EPA’s nationwide ban in 1986.)

Austin’s decades-long effort began in the 1960s, when Austin Water began removing any pre-existing lead lines during maintenance. In 2016, AW formalized the process, beginning a comprehensive inventory of all public water service lines and prioritizing investigation of lines serving schools and day cares. That work was completed last month and confirmed that Austin’s water contains no lead pipes. 

For comparison, low-income areas in older cities like Chicago, New York, Detroit and Milwaukee are often the slowest to replace lead pipes. The new rule revises the way lead amounts are measured, meaning the number of cities that will be required to reduce their lead levels could increase.

Biden’s new EPA rule is the strongest overhaul of national lead standards in decades. It requires water systems not to exceed a lead “action level” of 10 parts per billion – the current standard is 15 parts per billion. It also includes public education requirements if lead is found in the water — utilities are required to inform the public on installing water filters and other ways to protect their health. 

Lead is a neurotoxin that causes a range of disorders in adults including increased blood pressure and brain damage. Children of mothers exposed to lead during pregnancy show lower IQ scores and stunted development. The EPA estimates the new rule will prevent low birth weight in up to 900,000 infants and avoid up to 1,500 premature deaths a year from heart disease.

Even though all public lines have been declared clean, Austin Water still has to find ways to encourage private property owners to replace their pipes. With less than 1,000 private lines at risk of contamination, Austin Water plans to notify all of those customers, as the EPA requires, and then offer to replace the pipes directly or by rebate (each replacement costs about $5,000, with an estimated $5 million total cost). 

The new rule includes $2.6 billion in new drinking water infrastructure funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support pipe replacement projects – 49 percent of which must go to disadvantaged communities as grants – and $35 million in competitive grant funding available. Austin hasn’t been selected for any of these yet but is tracking all expenses to be able to seek reimbursement later if funds become available.

Details about the private-side replacement program and the complete inventory of all lines in Austin Water’s service area are available in an interactive web map.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.