Trump administration to stand by tough Biden-era mandates to replace
lead pipes
[February 21, 2026]
By MICHAEL PHILLIS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Friday it backs a
10-year deadline for most cities and towns to replace their harmful lead
pipes, giving notice that it will support a tough rule approved under
the Biden administration to reduce lead in drinking water.
The Environmental Protection Agency told a federal appeals court in
Washington that it would defend the strongest overhaul of lead-in-water
standards in three decades against a court challenge by a utility
industry association.
The Trump administration has typically favored rapid deregulation,
including reducing or killing rules on air and water pollution. On
Friday, for example, it repealed tight limits on mercury and other toxic
emissions from coal plants. But the agency has taken a different
approach to drinking water.
“After intensive stakeholder involvement, EPA concluded that the only
way to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act’s mandate to prevent
anticipated adverse health effects ‘to the extent feasible’ is to
require replacement of lead service lines," the agency's court filing
said.
Doing so by a 10-year deadline is feasible, the agency added, supporting
a rule that was based in part of the finding that old rules that relied
on chemical treatment and monitoring to reduce lead “failed to prevent
system-wide lead contamination and widespread adverse health effects.”
The EPA said in August it planned to defend the Biden administration's
aggressive rule, but added that it would also “develop new tools and
information to support practical implementation flexibilities and
regulatory clarity.” Some environmental activists worried that that
meant the EPA was looking to create loopholes.
Lead, a heavy metal once common in products like pipes and paints, is a
neurotoxin that can stunt children's development, lower IQ scores and
increase blood pressure in adults. Lead pipes can corrode and
contaminate drinking water. The previous Trump administration’s rule had
looser standards and did not mandate the replacement of all pipes.
Standards aimed at protecting kids
The Biden administration finalized its lead-in-water overhaul in 2024.
It mandated that utilities act to combat lead in water at lower
concentrations, with just 10 parts per billion as a trigger, down from
15. If higher levels were found, water systems had to inform their
consumers, take immediate action to reduce lead and work to replace lead
pipes that are commonly the main source of lead in drinking water.
The Biden administration at the time estimated the stricter standards
would protect up to 900,000 infants from having low birth weight and
avoid up to 1,500 premature deaths a year from heart disease.
“People power and years of lead-contaminated communities fighting to
clean up tap water have made it a third rail to oppose rules to protect
our health from the scourge of toxic lead. Maybe only a hidebound water
utility trade group is willing to attack this basic public health
measure,” said Erik Olson, senior director at the Natural Resource
Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit.
The American Water Works Association, a utility industry association,
had challenged the rule in court, arguing the EPA lacks authority to
regulate the portion of the pipe that's on private property and
therefore cannot require water systems to replace them.
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Richie Nero, of Boyle & Fogarty Construction, shows the the cross
section of an original lead, residential water service line, at
left, and the replacement copper line, at right, outside a home
where service was getting upgraded June 29, 2023, in Providence,
R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
The agency countered on Friday that utilities can be required to
replace the entire lead pipe because they have sufficient control
over them.
The AWWA also said the 10-year deadline wasn't feasible, noting it's
hard to find enough labor to do the work and water utilities face
other significant infrastructure challenges simultaneously. Water
utilities were given three years to prepare before the 10-year
timeframe starts and some cities with a lot of lead were given
longer.
The agency said they looked closely at data from dozens of water
utilities and concluded that the vast majority could replace their
lead pipes in 10 years or less.
Replacing decades-old standards
The original lead and copper rule for drinking water was enacted by
the EPA more than 30 years ago. The rules have significantly reduced
lead in water but have been criticized for letting cities move too
slowly when levels rose too high.
Lead pipes are most commonly found in older, industrial parts of the
country, including major cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit
and Milwaukee. The rule also revises the way lead amounts are
measured, which could significantly expand the number of communities
found violating the rules.
The EPA under President Donald Trump has celebrated deregulation.
Officials have sought to slash climate change programs and promote
fossil fuel development. On drinking water issues, however, their
initial actions have been more nuanced.
In March, for example, the EPA announced plans to partially roll
back rules to reduce so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water
— the other major Biden-era tap water protection. That change sought
to keep tough limits for some common PFAS, but also proposed
scrapping and reconsidering standards for other types and extending
deadlines.
PFAS and lead pipes are both costly threats to safe water. There are
some federal funds to help communities.
The Biden administration estimated about 9 million lead pipes
provide water to homes and businesses in the United States. The
Trump administration updated the analysis and now projects there are
roughly 4 million lead pipes. Changes in methodology, including
assuming that communities that did not submit data did not have lead
pipes, resulted in the significant shift. The new estimate does
correct odd results from some states — activists said that the
agency's initial assumptions for Florida, for example, seemed far
too high.
The EPA declined to comment on pending litigation. The AWWA pointed
to their previous court filing when asked for comment.
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