New Jersey Mandates Lead-Pipe Replacement Within 10 Years
The State of New Jersey is taking unprecedented action to protect its consumers from a pervasive drinking water contaminant by requiring a fix to the fundamental cause of the problem: outdated infrastructure.
“New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed legislation … that will require public water systems to catalogue all lead pipes and replace them within 10 years,” The Hill reported. “It’s estimated that the lead replacements in the state will cost around $2.65 billion and … Murphy has said water companies could hike up their rates as a way to finance the replacement of the pipes.”
Within the first 30 days of the enactment of the bill, any unidentified pipes must be catalogued in an inventory that must be provided to New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection within six months. Then, a more thorough report would be issued in a year, and additional reports would be forthcoming after that. In addition, consumers have to be alerted within 30 days of an inventory that finds their pipes contain lead.
While the legislation is groundbreaking and comprehensive, many consider it overdue in New Jersey, which has experienced notable lead contaminated drinking water issues. The City of Newark, for instance, was sued over dangerously high levels of lead in tap water in 2018.
“Nearly 4,000 children in New Jersey are found to have high levels of lead in their blood each year, according to Isles, a Trenton-based organization that advocates for lead abatement measures,” NJ.com reported. “Lead service lines are the heart of drinking water concerns in Newark, Bergen County, Trenton and elsewhere around the state and nation. It’s estimated that there are 350,000 lead service lines in New Jersey.”
Murphy also signed legislation requiring any rental property in New Jersey built before 1978 to be inspected for lead in its paint and signed a law that removes a restriction on special assessments and bond issuances for the replacement of lead service lines to residences.
While Murphy has paved the way for rate increases to fund the replacements, it seems possible that federal funding will become available for the new program. President Joe Biden’s administration has proposed total lead infrastructure replacement nationwide recently.
“There is some hope that an influx of federal spending through a national infrastructure bill will fund lead line replacements around New Jersey,” per NJ.com. “President Joe Biden is seeking $45 billion from Congress to replace lead service lines nationwide.”
To read more about how drinking water infrastructure fixes are paid for, visit Water Online’s Funding Solutions Center.