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LCRR Effective December 16, 2021 & Biden Administration Proposes New Rule (LCRI)
The Lead and Copper Rule has an effective date and we know one thing for certain, it’s go-time.
Posted on December 17, 2021
The EPA and Biden Administration have spoken. After nearly a year of review in accordance with Presidential directives issued on January 20, 2021, the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions are effective 12/16/21. Public water systems now have until 10/16/24 to comply with the new rule.
The EPA’s extensive review and commenting period yielded valuable and generally supportive feedback for their revisions, published in December of 2020. LCRR as written by the Trump Administration will move forward, as it provides valuable improvements to public health (such as the inventory of lead service lines) as compared to the pre-existing rule.
However, the EPA and administration pointed out that more should be done to improve LCRR. With that, the Biden Administration is developing a new proposed rule called the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), which the Administration hopes to be finalized by the LCRR compliance deadline of October 16, 2024.
LCRI will focus on four key elements:
- The timely replacement of all lead service lines
- Development of more robust tap sampling requirements
- Reduction in the complexity of trigger and action levels
- The prioritization of public health in underserved communities
The EPA did not indicate when the new rule would be proposed, but a senior official said the administration hoped to finalize it by 2024. It is also unclear what the new standard will be. Of course, 120Water will continue to monitor the status of the rule as well as the EPA’s progress.
The clock has started
We know one thing for certain… it’s go-time, and public water systems MUST begin the work to inventory all public and private service lines within their distribution system, as well as develop plans to fully comply with LCRR within the next two years.
In order to assist public water systems around the country, 120Water will be hosting complimentary planning sessions now through January 31st, 2022. Below is more information on how to join.
Schedule an LCR planning assistance session
Now through January 31st, 120Water experts are providing free 30-minute planning sessions to help water systems assess their LCR readiness and to answer questions about the latest rule revisions.