Advocating for More Federal Funding to Replace Lead Service Lines
The Clean Water, Healthy Families, Good Jobs Campaign is calling upon New Jersey’s Congressional Delegation to help address a flaw in the formula used to calculate how much funding New Jersey will get from the Bipartisan Investment and Jobs Act for the replacement of lead service lines. You can read our letter below:
Dear Members of New Jersey’s Congressional Delegation:
We write to recommend several actions that the New Jersey congressional delegation can take to ensure that our state receives its proper share of federal funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Infrastructure Act”) for the replacement of lead service lines (LSLs).
First, we would like to thank each of you for your leadership in enacting this historic piece of legislation. Your involvement was vital to the success of this effort.
The issue of concern is vital to New Jersey. Our state is currently projected to receive $241 million for lead pipe replacement over the five-year period covered by the Infrastructure Act, representing approximately 10% of the projected statewide cost of $2.3 billion. However, over $600 million in additional funds could be secured for New Jersey by addressing a flaw in the current distribution formula.
We request that you work with your congressional colleagues on two actions to ensure that federal funds dedicated for LSL replacement are directed fairly and in accord with the intent of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which are described more fully later in this letter:
- Short-term solution: Press the EPA to consider the cost estimates submitted to EPA as part of the Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs and Assessment (DWINA) survey.
- Long-term solution: Amend the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to require states to furnish annual cost estimates for replacing lead service lines and to consider the age of housing stock, which is a key predictive factor for the incidence of LSLs.
Background on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act funding for lead pipe replacement. As you know, the Infrastructure Act appropriated $15 billion for LSL replacement through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), representing about one third of the total estimated cost of eliminating LSLs nationwide. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA, section 1452) directs that DWSRF funds be distributed through a formula that allocates to each state its proportional share of the total national need for drinking water capital projects, as identified in a DWINA survey administered every four years by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). New Jersey’s DWSRF allocation is presently 1.7%.
While the EPA survey forms a basis for allocating funds to states for typical capital needs, such as treatment plants and pumping stations, it does not properly assess the need for LSL replacement. Numerous studies have established a strong relationship between older housing and the presence of LSLs, including a landmark study published in 2016 by the American Water Works Association that estimated that New Jersey has a total of 350,000 LSLs (the fifth highest in the nation). On that basis, New Jersey should receive approximately 5.7% of the national total, over three times more than the state’s DWSRF share (1.7%).
As noted on the attached chart, the higher percentage would provide federal aid totaling approximately $859 million, or over $600 million more than the state is currently projected to receive over the five-year period covered by the Infrastructure Act. And New Jersey is not alone. Approximately 20% of all states, and particularly those with older housing stock and industrial economies, are similarly affected, in some cases (e.g., IL, OH, MI) by a much wider margin. Conversely, states with sizable DWSRF allocations but relatively few LSLs, such as California, would receive a windfall.
If this imbalance is not corrected, the harshest impacts will be felt in New Jersey’s disadvantaged communities, many of which suffer from fiscal distress and a high incidence of lead exposure. Though New Jersey has enacted the most aggressive enabling statute in the country, including a requirement to eliminate all LSLs within 10 years, overburdened communities that face additional, daunting environmental challenges—such as combined sewer overflows and aging water infrastructure—simply cannot meet the requirement without federal and state assistance.
The current funding distribution also poses a major obstacle to Justice 40, which seeks to deliver at least 40% of the overall benefits from federal investments to disadvantaged communities, and includes the DWSRF as one of its 21 targeted programs.
Detailed short-term solution: Thankfully, a potential short-term solution is presently within reach. In 2018, the federal SDWA (section 1452 (h)(2)) was amended to require the EPA to include a new question in its 2022 DWINA survey that prompts states to estimate the cost of LSL replacement. The EPA deadline for state responses is set for late February 2022, and a final report on the entire DWINA survey would not be issued to Congress until February 2023. As an exception to that process, the agency should be pressed to issue the results of the survey question on projected LSL costs as soon as possible so that proper adjustments can be made to the allocation of LSL funds for federal fiscal year 2023.
Detailed longer-term solution: In the longer term, we recommend that the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (i.e., section 1452) be amended for the following:
- Require that states submit updated LSL cost estimates to the EPA annually (rather than every four years), as doing so would provide a current, more accurate picture of need as water utilities across the country complete their required inventories of service lines.
- Prior to the mandated completion of service line inventories in 2024, the funding distribution for LSL replacement should incorporate objective factors that directly relate to the incidence of LSLs, such as the age of housing stock.
Thank you for considering these recommendations, which are important components of the Clean Water, Healthy Families, Good Jobs campaign platform (https://www.ourwaternj.org/).
Our organizations may be in further touch with you, collectively or individually, to share additional details, and we stand ready to answer any questions that you may have. For more information, feel free to contact Gary Brune, Senior Policy Manager at New Jersey Future, at gbrune@njfuture.org.
Sincerely,
Chris Sturm
New Jersey Future
Christine Ballard
Association of Environmental Authorities
Ray Cantor
NJ Business & Industry Association
Tom Churchelow
NJ Utilities Association
Kim Gaddy
South Ward Environmental Alliance
Kate Gibs
ELEC 825, Operators
Barbara George Johnson
NJ Urban Mayors Association
Dan Kennedy
UTCA
Larry Levine
NRDC
Andy Kricun
US Water Alliance
Nicole Miller
MnM Consulting
NewarkDIG
Doug O’Malley
Environment NJ
Ed Potosnak
NJ League of Conservation Voters
Ciro Scalera
NJ Laborers Union - Labor-Management Trust Fund
Cheryl Stowell
NJ Shares