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February 27, 2024
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA): Proposed Lead and Copper
Rule Improvements (LCRI)
Concerns about lead's adverse health effects, particularly
on children, continue to drive efforts to reduce lead
exposure through drinking water. Some water pipes, called
service lines, that connect water mains to residences and
buildings may be made from lead. These lead service lines
(LSLs) are one potential source of lead exposure. A 2008
study funded by the American Water Works Association
(AWWA) Research Foundation and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that, under laboratory
conditions, LSLs were the major contributor to lead levels
in tap water, contributing an average of 50%-75% of the
lead measured. Controlling corrosion of pipes, including
LSLs, continues to be the primary method to keep lead
from entering tap water, for reasons discussed below.
In December 2023, EPA proposed a rulemaking that the
agency calls the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements
(LCRI; 88 Federal Register [FR] 84878). EPA's proposal
follows promulgation of the Lead and Copper Rule
Revisions (LCRR) in 2021, a long-term effort to revise the
1991 Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) (86 FR 4198). CRS
Report R46794, Addressing Lead in Drinking Water: The
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), contains further
details on these rules. EPA's LCRI would revise several
LCRR requirements and would expand certain
requirements, including replacement of all LSLs. This In
Focus discusses the existing drinking water regulations for
lead, selected elements of the proposed LCRI, and potential
implementation challenges. (Water system requirements for
lead, rather than for copper, are outlined below.)
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
EPA promulgates its lead and copper rules under the Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which authorizes EPA to
regulate contaminants in public water supplies (42 U.S.C.
§300g-1). SDWA regulations apply to public water
systems, which can be owned and/or operated by public or
private entities (e.g., investor-owned utilities and
homeowner associations). SDWA requires EPA to review
and revise, as appropriate, its regulations every six years,
and it requires that any revisions maintain or provide for
increased public health protection (42 U.S.C. §300g-
1(b)(9)). CRS Report R46652, Regulating Contaminants
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), further
discusses SDWA regulations.
SDWA authorizes states and tribes to assume primary
responsibility (primacy) for oversight and enforcement of
water system compliance with EPA's regulations (42
U.S.C. §300g-2). Except for Wyoming and the District of
Columbia, all states, U.S. territories, and the Navajo Nation
have primacy. EPA directly oversees water systems in
nonprimacy areas and retains oversight of primacy states.
Congress has used several approaches under SDWA to limit
exposure to lead through drinking water. These include
limiting the lead content of plumbing materials and fixtures;
establishing public notification and education requirements;
and authorizing grant programs for lead reduction projects,
testing for lead in water at schools and child care programs,
and removing lead-lined drinking water coolers from
schools. Also, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
(IIJA; P.L. 117-58) provides $3.0 billion for each of
FY2022-FY2026 for the Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund (DWSRF) for LSL replacement projects and related
activities. CRS Report R47717, Lead Service Lines (LSLs)
Replacement: Funding Developments contains more details.
Lead and Copper Rukrakings
In 1991, EPA issued the LCR. The LCR replaced a
previous rule that set a drinking water standard for lead of
50 parts per billion (ppb) measured at the water treatment
plant. Lead primarily enters water after it leaves the
treatment plant as it travels through the distribution system
to the water tap. If the water has corrosive properties, lead
can leach from lead-containing pipes, plumbing materials,
and fixtures (e.g., faucets) present in the distribution system
and plumbing.
To address this potential outcome, EPA developed the
LCR, which requires water systems to sample water at the
tap rather than at the treatment plant. The LCR does not
include an enforceable standard; rather, the LCR establishes
a treatment technique that is triggered when the lead action
level is exceeded. The LCR's lead action level is 15 ppb,
based on the 90th-percentile level of lead in tap water
samples. An exceedance of the action level is not a
violation of the rule but triggers treatment technique
actions that a water system is required to take.
If more than 10% of a water system's samples exceed 15
ppb-called a system-wide exceedance-the system is
required to take actions that depend on the system's size
and corrosion control treatment (CCT) status. The required
enforceable treatment technique actions include (1) CCT
optimization, (2) water quality parameter monitoring, (3)
source water monitoring, (4) LSL replacement, and (5)
public notification and education.
In 2004, EPA initiated a comprehensive review of the 1991
LCR, issuing short-term and intermediate clarifications to
the rule in 2007 (72 FR 57782). EPA worked with states,
water utilities, and others to develop comprehensive long-
term LCR revisions, which the agency issued in 2021. In
the 2021 LCRR, EPA retained the LCR's treatment
technique and revised several of the rule's requirements
(86 FR 4198). Also in 2021, EPA stated its intent to](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveokv0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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