FILE - Blackhawk Sewer & Water contractor Khaild Waarith holds a lead pipe that was extracted in Chicago on April 10, 2023. The Environmental Protection Agency did not verify estimates of lead pipes before distributing $3 billion in funding for lead pipe replacement in 2023, likely meaning some states got too much and others got too little, according to the agency’s inspector general.
The agency has said it will release new information on lead service lines projections later this summer. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Tom Neltner, national director with Unleaded Kids, said two states — Texas and Florida — had much higher totals than expected in those estimates. Florida ultimately received the most funding of any state in 2023: $254.8 million after anTexas and Florida didn’t immediately respond to messages left with their governor’s offices and Florida’s Department of Environmental Quality.
The EPA’s office of inspector general is in the middle of evaluating federal funding for lead pipe replacement, and had been in contact with agency officials earlier about some of their concerns. The inspector general expects to release a final report in the fall when it will identify each states’ inaccuracies.
“We have serious concerns about the quality of the data upon which EPA relied,” a February letter to the EPA from Massachusetts officials said., the EPA adjusted its allocation of funds for 2024, which is based on some new information it received from utilities. Funding for Texas dropped the most; its $146.2 million was cut by about $117.6 million. Florida had the second-biggest reduction, cut by $26.1 million. Eight other states or territories saw smaller reductions.
The $15 billion is only a fraction of the total amount needed to replace all of the country’s lead pipes. Erik Olson, a health and food expert at the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, said inflated estimates by some states can direct a lot of money to the wrong place.Olson said it’s the obligation of water utilities and states to submit accurate information. But EPA deserves some blame, too, “for not verifying some of these numbers,” he said.
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