The new regulations require an inventory be made of service lines, categorizing them into, Lead, Galvanized Requiring Replacement, Non-Lead, or Lead Status Unknown. The goal is to replace all lead service lines. As of January 2023, the EPA has not lowered the pre-existing Primary Drinking Water Regulations Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for Lead and is reviewing public comments requesting that it do so.

Lead exposure is a critical public health issue. Its adverse effects on children and the general population are serious and well known. Lead has acute and chronic impacts on the body. Lead exposure causes damage to the brain and kidneys and may interfere with the production of red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of the body. The most susceptible life-stages are the developing fetus, infants, and young children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that “no safe blood lead level in children has been identified.”  Because they are growing, children’s bodies absorb more lead than adults do, and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to its damaging effects. As a result, even low-level lead exposure is of particular concern to children.

The association between lead and adverse cardiovascular effects, renal effects, reproductive effects, immunological effects, neurological effects, and cancer has been documented in the EPA 2013 Integrated Science Assessment for Lead, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) National Toxicology Program (NTP) Monograph on Health Effects of Low-Level Lead, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) 2020 Toxicological Profile for Lead. EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Chemical Assessment Summary provides additional health effects information on lead.