Biden’s $6 Billion Pledge to Make YOUR Drinking Water Safe: White House Announces New Package for Every State and Territory to Remove Toxic Chemicals from the Tap

The Biden administration will distribute nearly $6 billion to states and territories to help remove toxic chemicals from the nation’s drinking water sources.

The money will fund state-run programs designed to remove dangerous lead pipes from the estimated 10 million homes that have them and upgrade ailing wastewater treatment systems that fail to adequately clean the water and make it safe to drink.

More than $1 billion will also go towards removing ‘forever chemicals’ – which have been linked to cancer and fertility problems – amid growing concerns about the toxins.

The administration is channeling funding from President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which passed in his first year in office.

Nearly half of all tap water sources in the US are laced with toxic PFAS ‘forever chemicals’, which economists say are costing America’s health care system between $5 billion and $63 billion annual.

The government will give states the power to choose exactly how which water system improvement projects will be financed

The country’s drinking water infrastructure consistently scores below average for civil engineers, a product of decades of underfunding and the ravages of climate change.

The Biden administration does praise the latest tranche of money as “the largest investment in clean water in American history.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will formally unveil the plans Tuesday at an event in Pittsburgh.

She said ahead of the event, “President Biden and I believe that everyone in our country should have the right to clean water, no matter where they live or how much money they make.

“With this investment, we continue our urgent work to remove every lead pipe in the country and ensure every American has access to safe and reliable drinking water.”

The federal government will not decide how the total $5.8 billion will be spent.

Instead, the money will be distributed to states, which will then have the authority to choose the water improvement projects that will receive funding.

EPA will oversee the $3.2 billion given to states through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which aims to improve water treatment facilities and modernize distribution networks and pipelines.

Part of that investment will include $1 billion to build seven major rural water projects to deliver new, clean drinking water supplies to rural communities.

The funding can also be used to replace toxic lead pipes. While new lead pipes are estimated to have been banned in the 1980s 12.8 million of them still stand in buildings across the country.

Lead is a neurotoxin that, even in small amounts, can cause neurological damage and developmental delays in children.

In addition, lead exposure can affect other systems in the body, such as the cardiovascular, renal and reproductive systems.

The Biden administration set a 2021 goal to replace all of the nation’s leading service lines within a decade, but cost has always been a barrier.

Yet local governments have shown that it is possible.

Pittsburgh has already received $42 million to fix its lead pipe problem through the bipartisan infrastructure bill of 2021. The city has successfully replaced more than 16,000 main lines, representing more than 60 miles.

The total allocation for water system improvements as part of President Biden’s massive 2021 infrastructure bill is $50 billion. The $5.8 billion announced on Tuesday comes from that package

Although new lead pipes have been banned, there are still between nine and thirteen million pipes in buildings across the country. Map courtesy of the NRDC

The latest testing has shown that lead levels have fallen to an all-time low – 3.58 parts per billion – well below the state and federal threshold of 15 ppb.

The remaining $2.6 billion will be distributed to states as part of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund for a range of projects to improve wastewater, sanitation and stormwater infrastructure. This includes $1 billion for efforts to remove PFAS chemicals and other contaminants from the water system.

The initiative to solve the PFAS problem will suffer a serious blow. The ‘forever chemicals’ used in manufacturing to give raincoats, cookware and food packaging their water and oil-repellent properties remain embedded in the environment for centuries before breaking down.

The White House said: ‘Additionally, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure bill, 100% of funding to remove emerging pollutants like PFAS will be provided in the form of grants or forgivable loans, significantly reducing barriers for all communities with PFAS contamination are reduced.’

Nearly half of all tap water sources in the US contain PFAS. The microplastics enter the water supply when nonstick cookware is washed, through runoff from factories and military bases, from firefighting foam and from landfills.