Young girl drinking water

Lead Pipes and Environmental Justice. A study of lead pipe replacement in Washington, DC

This report found that lead pipe replacement programs in Washington, DC disproportionately benefited wealthier, predominantly white neighborhoods, leaving low-income and minority communities at greater risk of lead exposure due to the financial burden of replacing private service lines.

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Water coming out of sink

LSLR Financing Case Studies

The EPA compiled 10 case studies highlighting proactive actions being taken by cities across the country to finance projects that identify and remove these lead service lines.

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Checklist

Start a conversation: Ask the right questions to make key program decision

A guide for local elected officials to ask key questions when starting a LSLR program.

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The Unique Case of Investor-Owned Utilities

The consequences of lead on communities are serious regardless of whether the municipality or an investor-owned utility (IOU) owns the water delivery system.

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Learning through Collaboration: Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership

The Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership, a first-of-its-kind mayor-led partnership designed to create shared learnings and replicate successes.

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Mayor Ras Baraka

Spotlight: A Conversation with a Mayor Spurs Action

At Mayor Baraka’s urging, the Newark City Council passed two ordinances to make the full-scale project possible.

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Lessons from Four Illinois Mayors Interviews

We interviewed mayors and utility staff from four Illinois communities who are working to comply with the Illinois state mandate to replace lead service lines.

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A New Era For Water Management: Harnessing GIS Innovations And Collaboration For A Resilient Future

Hopeworks equips interns with the skills to develop models, analyze data, and create visualizations, to support water utilities in need of technical support with service line inventory and replacement projects.

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Denver Water-wide

Community Engagement in Denver, CO

Denver Water is a national model for lead service line replacement and has one of the most comprehensive programs in the country, designed to replace all lead service lines in Denver Water’s service area over the course of 15 years.

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Wausau-case-study

Innovative Partnership in Wausau, WI

Wasau utilized a community-based public-private partnership approach for lead service line replacement.

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Milwaukee is one of the few cities in the country with a prioritization plan to ensure neighborhoods likely to suffer the most severe impacts from lead poisoning get their pipes replaced first. In consultation with a community-based group, Coalition for Lead Emergency (COLE), and following a public engagement process, Milwaukee included in an ordinance three indicators to prioritize where LSLs will be removed first:

  1. The area deprivation index (ADI), which is a compilation of social determinants of health
  2. The percentage of children found to have elevated lead levels in their blood when tested for lead poisoning
  3. The density of lead service lines in the neighborhood.

Read more here.