Community Organizers
Principle 1
Engage Local Decision-Makers
Engage with elected officials, public health agencies, and water utilities to shape local decision-making.
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Build knowledge and understanding
Community organizers need a basic understanding of lead service line replacement (LSLR) to engage with decision-makers, build partnerships, and inform residents. While technical expertise is not required, understanding the basics around policies, water utility management, and funding decisions (see Lead Pipes 101) helps you communicate clearly, build trust, and support informed decision-making.
Identify key areas of learning
Lead service line replacement (LSLR) programs involve many moving parts and a diverse array of stakeholders. To navigate this landscape effectively, develop a basic understanding of how these programs are implemented, focusing on three core areas: public health, policy and decision-making, and funding and financing. Having a strong grasp of these elements shapes replacement programs, and the roles of key actors will help you participate more effectively in discussions with your water utility, local leaders, and other partners. It can also empower you to identify nuances, ask informed questions, and confidently advocate for your community’s needs.
Health Risks
- Health impacts of lead exposure: Even small amounts can harm children’s brain development, causing learning disabilities, lower IQ, attention issues, and behavioral problems. In adults, lead raises the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and pregnancy complications.
- The long-term effects of lead exposure: Lead exposure can impact entire communities, affecting educational outcomes and workforce productivity while increasing costs for healthcare and other social services.
- Risk of exposure: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides guidelines on blood lead level testing and on mitigating the impact after exposure. CDC uses a blood lead reference value of 3.5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL) to identify children with blood lead levels higher than most children.
Information Sources
- Water Utility data and information: Access data and information on policies and programs affecting LSLR via the utility website. Other information, such as utility service records or housing construction dates, may require a more thorough investigation and collaboration with relevant public agencies or utilities. Houses built before 1978 (and some into the 1980s) are likely to contain both lead-based plumbing and lead paint.
- Contact local or state officials: Elected officials and public health departments can provide information on state and federal requirements for implementing LSLR programs.
- Trusted organizations: Organizations such as public libraries and university departments can be reliable partners to source information.
Policy Landscape
- State and federal regulations: Understand how the water system complies with regulations to strengthen education and outreach efforts. This includes understanding how the utility applies corrosion control treatment to minimize leaching. While corrosion control does reduce the risk of exposure, lead can still leach into water unpredictably, posing an ongoing risk.
- Water quality and compliance: Review the utility’s annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) to track water quality and lead levels. This report is typically posted on the utility’s website and on customer bills. The CCR summarizes water quality data, including any lead exceedances, and may describe the system’s approach to corrosion control. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also tracks and publishes water system violations, providing additional insight into a utility’s compliance record.
Funding Opportunities
- Government funding: Federal, state, or local funding may support community engagement activities for LSLR. These are often offered as grants and additional subsidies, or forgivable loans. These funds can compensate community partners for their work without increasing the utility’s costs.
- Other funding sources: If LSLR grants are not available for a community, or your organization is not eligible, look for grant opportunities at all levels of government and through community foundations. Eligible activities may include inventory development, community outreach, and LSLR education. Broad community grant programs not specifically tied to lead may also support this work.
Identify the decision-makers
Identifying decision-makers ensures you know whom to engage for specific issues and who possesses the authority to implement changes. A clear understanding of this landscape helps community organizers adapt their approach, whether acting as a collaborator, an educator, or an advocate for accountability, to achieve desired outcomes. Every interaction should be grounded in transparency, curiosity, and a commitment to collaboration.
The following groups and departments often hold key roles and responsibilities in the implementation of lead service line (LSL) programs:
Mayors and council members
Mayors and their staff can help set policy goals, secure resources, and drive action to replace LSLs (See Mayoral Roadmap for examples). City council members can advocate for funding and policy support, and even require specific public engagement priorities beyond the standard practices.
City managers, planners, and council members
City managers can coordinate resources, while planners can integrate LSL projects into broader infrastructure work. Strong collaboration can reduce costs, minimize disruptions, and accelerate lead service line replacement (LSLR).
State decision-makers
State legislators and administrators can leverage policy to fund LSLR, reduce barriers to funding access, and set timelines and goals. While educating and advocating alongside community partners takes time, collaborating with state leaders can secure widespread, impactful results. (See State Decision-Makers Roadmap)
Water utilities
Water utilities are typically responsible for planning, funding, and implementing LSLR programs. Utilities also play a critical role in prioritizing replacements, providing technical expertise, and sharing information with residents. (See Water Utilities Roadmap)
Public health departments
Local public health departments and health professionals can:
- Communicate the health impacts associated with lead exposure.
- Educate the community on actions to reduce risk, including proper filter use and clarifying that boiling water is not an effective prevention measure.
- Identify where lead exposure risks are highest based on data-driven analyses.
- Identify where to prioritize LSLR, such as areas with vulnerable populations, childcare facilities, schools, households with pregnant women or young children, and communities disproportionately impacted by environmental or socioeconomic burdens.
Understand how decisions are made
Governing structures vary across cities, towns, and municipalities, but local governments and water utilities typically serve as the primary decision-makers for lead service line (LSL) programs. These entities often have limited capacity to educate the public on how policies and decisions are developed. However, these processes directly affect how lead service line replacement (LSLR) programs are designed and implemented, including prioritization of neighborhoods, customer outreach requirements, and eligibility for state and federal funding programs (see: Mayors’ Roadmap, Principle 2, Key Action 2).
Community organizers can help fill the information gap by:
- Consulting with city or town or water utility staff managing the LSL program to clarify their priorities and decision-making logic
- Developing easy-to-share materials at community meetings that explain key decision-making processes
- Tracking and participating in public meetings and comment opportunities
- Identifying subject matter experts within their networks, e.g., policy nonprofits or universities, to build capacity in local policy matters.
- Connect with local or national organizations that have built their capacity on similar issues and replicate their strategies. Organizations such as the Community Water Center in California have trained community members to become subject-matter experts on local drinking water policy reform and to lead community engagement efforts to accelerate LSLR.
Toolbox
Federal regulations
Key Action 2
Assemble key partners and decision makers
Lead service line replacement (LSLR) requires strong coordination and active engagement with a wide range of partners. Every community is different; understanding local needs and building the right partnerships early and continuously is critical to success. Community organizers are crucial in connecting residents with decision-makers and driving coordinated action.
Establish relationships with local decision-makers
Connect with those overseeing local lead service line replacements (LSLR), including your water utility, municipal departments, city council, and utility board.
Since LSLR projects can take years, continuous, clear communication and diplomacy with decision-makers are essential to maintain their focus, build trust, and effectively advocate for your community’s needs.
Some engagement actions with local decision-makers include:
Establish contact
Contact the city, town, or utility via email or phone to identify who is responsible for the LSL project. Request an in-person meeting to introduce your organization. Strive to have regular check-ins with the individuals and organizations.
Be present and participate
Attend city or town council or utility board meetings. In certain communities, especially rural ones, attending meetings is often more effective than emailing. Since agendas are typically posted on city, town, or utility websites, you can participate when LSLR is discussed to provide feedback and voice concerns. Prepare brief, focused remarks in advance, and check for any required speaker sign-up or public comment time limits before attending.
Build understanding
Invite the city, town, or utility staff to your organization’s or community meetings. Discuss the LSL project and how they can collaborate with the utility or department overseeing the project. Sharing perspectives can help build a better understanding between all those impacted and involved in the project.
Stay informed
Check the city, town, or utility website and newsletter. Stay informed about updates to the LSLR program.
Build a coalition to guide lead service line replacement priorities
Develop a broad coalition of community leaders, including neighborhood groups, faith-based organizations, and service providers, to share resources and advocacy burdens. These strategic partnerships expand program awareness and boost participation, helping to capture the attention of city or town and water utility officials more effectively than any single organization could alone.
Effective coalitions should build meaningful relationships with the city or town and utility, elevate community perspectives, and foster shared ownership of lead service line replacement efforts. In some cases, coalition members have served on advisory committees to inform planning and implementation.
As a community organization, you can explore the opportunity to build a coalition by gathering interested and impacted community members through accessible events such as a potluck, a public meeting, or attendance at town council meetings. Invite widely with ample notice. Host at least two gatherings at different times and on different days in central, accessible locations across impacted neighborhoods to ensure diverse and strong participation.
Connect the community with key decision-makers
After establishing a positive rapport with local authorities, community organizers can act as vital intermediaries. Bringing decision-makers directly into the community fosters transparency and builds mutual trust. These interactions create a platform for co-designing project strategies that truly address local priorities and lived experiences, which, when executed effectively, frequently leads to accelerated replacement timelines.
When facilitating connections between residents, city or town, and water utility staff, organizers should prioritize the following:
- Offer multiple ways to engage: Incorporate activities such as open houses, roundtable discussions, and anonymous surveys to foster diverse participation. Ensure language translation services, including American Sign Language, are available.
- Tailor communications: Each group will have distinct priorities for messaging and information sharing related to lead service line replacement. Early meetings are a valuable opportunity to understand these priorities and align efforts and messaging.
- Encourage participation: Use qualified, effective moderators and facilitators to ensure all voices are heard, and discussions are handled constructively.
- Reduce barriers: Work with the city or town and utility to remove barriers to participation. This can mean providing childcare, offering compensation or a stipend for community members’ time and expertise, or providing transportation.
- Maintain records: Share detailed notes afterward to keep everyone informed.
Focus on collaboration and trust-building
Community organizers can play a critical role in bridging the gap between local governments and communities. By engaging directly with local government staff, organizers can better understand technical details and translate them into clear, accessible information for the community. At the same time, they can surface community concerns, questions, and recommendations, helping all sides better understand each other’s perspectives. Building this mutual understanding supports clear communication and stronger working relationships that improve program outcomes (see: Principle 2).
Toolbox
Engaging with local decision-makers
Key Action 3
Support prioritizing vulnerable populations
Although water utilities generally establish the replacement sequence, urge them to prioritize lead service line replacements (LSLRs) in communities most affected by lead exposure. Because replacing all LSLs is required and a multi-year effort, clear prioritization ensures resources are directed to protect those at greatest risk. Low-income populations and communities of color are disproportionately impacted by lead exposure, and children and pregnant women face the highest risk.
Identify and prioritize vulnerable populations
Effective replacement programs prioritize resources based on community need and socioeconomic factors. Infants and children are especially vulnerable to lead exposure, making it critical to prioritize lead service line replacements (LSLR) in the places they live, learn, and play.
Advisory committees comprising a diverse group of community members can support this effort by helping water utilities prioritize replacements in home-based childcare facilities, high-risk neighborhoods, and areas with elevated blood lead levels or high levels of lead in water.
Replacement efforts should focus first on communities at greatest risk, including:
Children
Children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure. Prioritize replacements in child care centers, schools, and neighborhoods with many families. Service line inventories should include information for all schools and child care facilities. Inventories are available on the city, town, or utility website or by contacting the LSL project manager directly.
Low-income communities and communities of color
Low-income communities and communities of color often face higher exposure risks due to older housing, historic disinvestment, and unequal access to resources to replace LSLs.
Elevated lead levels
Elevated lead levels in water samples indicate violations of health and safety standards and may suggest failing corrosion-control treatment. Elevated blood lead levels in children are also a key indicator of vulnerable populations being affected. This data may be available from the health department.
Encourage data transparency to reach vulnerable populations
Invite the city or town and water utility staff responsible for the lead service line replacement (LSLR) project to help residents better understand the project, for example, how to interpret LSL inventory data. Federal regulations require public water systems to make LSL inventory data available. The inventory must specify the number of known LSLs, known galvanized pipes requiring replacement, and unidentified (unknown) pipes.
Encourage your decision-makers to make data more transparent and accessible through:
- Interactive maps showing the locations of lead service lines can be a powerful tool to make information readily accessible to residents. This information allows residents to:
- Better understand their risk of being exposed to lead in drinking water
- Make decisions when renting or purchasing a new home
- Advocate for utilities to take action and replace LSLs in communities at most risk
Note: If your utility serves more than 50,000 people, it is required to make preliminary address-specific information about the locations of lead service lines publicly available in October 2024 under the federal Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. Inventories must be finalized by 2027.
- Press statements and proactive information sharing with the local media can increase awareness of the program, highlight milestones, and keep your community informed of progress. To ensure a collaborative process, share the statements to be reviewed for accuracy with city or town and utility officials before distribution.
- Social media campaigns can help reach a broader audience, raise awareness of the risks associated with lead in drinking water, and encourage program enrollment. Campaigns should be based on facts and in collaboration with city or town and utility officials. Include diverse perspectives, highlight the LSL project’s progress, and how to direct inquiries to the utility. Information campaigns are also an opportunity to address disinformation and misinformation.
- Public education and door-knocking campaigns by community members, local organizations, and utilities have successfully built trust and increased program participation in both urban and rural areas by helping residents:
- Understand the potential impacts of lead in drinking water and other legacy sources, such as paint and contaminated soils.
- Learn how they can get a blood lead test.
- Reduce lead exposure, for example by using point-of-use filters, as guided by the utility during the LSLR process.
Toolbox
LSLR prioritization plans
LSLR prioritization
Key Action 4
Secure local government commitment to full replacement of lead pipes
Urge your local elected officials and water utility to commit to fully replacing lead service lines (LSLs), both the public and the private portions (see: Lead Pipes 101). Partial replacements, in which only one section of the line is replaced, can temporarily spike lead levels in drinking water, increasing the risk of exposure, especially if appropriate flushing procedures are not followed. Full replacement is the safest and most reliable way to protect public health.
Help remove barriers to replace lead pipes on private property
The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) require water utilities to fully replace lead service lines and limit partial replacements to exceptional circumstances, such as emergency repairs. One of the biggest challenges utilities face is gaining access to private property and securing permission from property owners (see: Mayors’ Roadmap, Principle 1, Key Action 3). As trusted messengers, community organizers play a critical role in overcoming these barriers by bridging gaps among water utilities, the city, and its residents.
You can support these efforts by:
Engaging directly with community members
Mailed notifications often go unread, and not all residents allow utility workers into their homes. To overcome these barriers, utilize in-person community outreach. Organize door-knocking campaigns, host information booths, or participate in local events to raise awareness and directly answer questions in collaboration with the local elected officials and the utility. Face-to-face communication is key to increasing resident participation in replacement programs, as people are more likely to act when they learn about the risks and benefits from a trusted source.
Support legislation allowing tenants to grant access for lead pipe replacement
Replacing the customer-owned portion of the service line typically requires the property owner’s consent, usually granted by signing a formal access form. In some cases, landlords may be hard to reach or slow to respond, delaying replacement and unjustly placing the burden and risk of lead exposure on renters (see: Mayor’s Roadmap, Priority 3, Key Action 2). Legislation allowing tenants or occupants to grant water utilities access to the property to replace the private portion can help remove this barrier. This is particularly relevant for many urban communities, including New York City and Chicago, where most renters live in older buildings with suspected LSLs. Laws are also applicable at the state level in Indiana and Pennsylvania.
Ensure compliance with federal and state requirements
The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) requires most water systems to replace all lead service lines (LSLs) by 2037. Urging town leaders to prioritize this deadline can help rally the community behind the effort (see Mayors’ Roadmap Principle 1, Key Action 1).
State laws, regulations, and guidelines can also shape lead service line replacement (LSLR) campaigns. During your initial learning phase, it is essential to prioritize understanding the core federal and state laws and policies that govern LSLR. As a starting point, refer to the EPA’s website and your state government for this information. To further enhance your policy expertise, consider reaching out to state agency staff or partnering with environmental organizations experienced in state and federal water policy reform to build policy expertise, stay informed, and identify key areas for prioritization.