Biden lets Chicago replace dangerous lead water lines much slower than other cities

President Joe Biden is telling cities to replace their dangerous lead water pipes within a decade, though his plan does little to fix the public health threat in Chicago where it may take at least another 40 years to resolve.

Biden’s administration announced a plan Thursday that will require all but a handful of cities to completely remove water pipes with brain-damaging lead within 10 years.

Chicago, however, is getting a pass.

Despite the national mandate, the city will not have to follow the Biden plan because it has such an unusually high number of lead service lines – more than 400,000. That’s by far, the most lead service lines — pipes that connect homes to water mains — of any city in the country.

“We definitely want to move quicker than that,” said Brenda Santoyo, a senior policy analyst for Little Village Environmental Justice Organization who has advocated for pipe replacements.

The Biden plan, which is not final and will be subject to two months of public comment, is proposing Chicago replace no more than 10,000 lead service lines a year.

That’s a slight improvement from the planned 8,000 lead line replacements the city announced it hopes to do next year pending state funding.

Asked about the exception for Chicago, Environmental Protection Agency water official Radhika Fox said the plan requires “practical implementation.” She pointed to another part of the proposal requiring water departments to take actions when a new, lower measurement of lead is detected in homes’ drinking water.

“I would not say this is status quo,” Fox said.

Health experts say no level of lead is safe for children. Overall, the plan does address a national health threat.

“It’s good news for a lot of people but, obviously, in Chicago, the news isn’t as good,” said Erik Olson, a senior strategist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “You can’t have more generations of kids being exposed to lead.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Biden’s overall plan is “a bold action.” Asked about Chicago, in particular, her spokesman said Duckworth “knows we need to do more.”