Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, applauded $28,650,000 in funding to help Washington state identify and replace lead service lines, preventing exposure to lead in drinking water. Lead can cause a range of serious health issues, including irreversible harm to brain development in children. Today’s announcement is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Senators Murray and Cantwell helped pass and is being made available through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). More information, including state-by-state allotment of 2024 funding and a breakdown of EPA’s lead Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, is available HERE.
“In 2024, no household in America should be turning on their water and wondering if it is safe to drink,” said Senator Murray. “This investment will help communities across our state upgrade water infrastructure to ensure families have access to the clean, safe drinking water they deserve. I helped pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in the Senate, which included historic new funding for clean drinking water, and as Appropriations Chair, I fought to protect these essential resources in this year’s funding bills. This funding will help make critical upgrades—and I am going to keep fighting to secure the resources we need so every family has clean drinking water.”
“Lead contaminated drinking water remains a serious health threat for thousands of households in the State of Washington. All children and families deserve safe drinking water, and this investment will help provide communities the resources they need to identify and remove dangerous lead water service lines,” said Senator Cantwell.
EPA projects there are a total of 9 million lead services lines across the country, based on data collected from the updated 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment. The funding announced today is for lead service line identification and replacement and will help every state and territory fund projects to remove lead pipes and reduce exposure to lead from drinking water. Total funding announced through this program to date is expected to replace up to 1.7 million lead pipes nationwide, securing clean drinking water for countless families. Working collaboratively, EPA and the State Revolving Funds are advancing President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative to ensure that 40% of overall benefits from certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. Lead exposure disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income families.
Murray and Cantwell have both fought and leveraged their respective committee assignments to secure funding to replace dangerous lead pipes still in use in communities across the country; the senators previously announced more than $152 million for clean water projects in Washington state in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Last fall, Murray announced $20 million for Washington state to update water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as another $40 million to help upgrade facilities and protect people from water contaminants like PFAS. Murray also secured millions for clean drinking water through Congressionally Directed Spending in this year’s spending package, including $5 million for the City of Mattawa to improve their drinking water system, $3 million for the Discovery Clean Water Alliance in Vancouver, and more. Murray has long worked to eliminate PFAS contamination, conducting consistent oversight and securing major investments in reducing PFAS pollution in this year’s appropriations bills that were signed into law.
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