USEPA announces final Lead and Copper Rule Improvements

On October 8, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) released its long-awaited Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). This final rule comes barely a week before the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) compliance date on October 16, 2024, and it clarifies which LCRR provisions will be maintained, as well as detailing LCRI requirements and compliance deadlines, ending three years of uncertainty.

Garver Water Technology Team Manager Ashley Pifer, PhD, PE, has examined the final LCRI and prepared at-a-glance lists of key takeaways for water systems. 

Which LCRR provisions will water systems still need to comply with on October 16, 2024?

• Submit a service line inventory to their primacy agency by the LCRR compliance date

• Make their service line inventory publicly available

• Notify customers served by lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or lead status unknown service lines by mail within 30 days of completing their service line inventories

• Begin Tier 1 public notification after lead action level exceedances based on tap sampling conducted as required under the 2021 LCRR

• Complete reporting requirements to the primacy agency regarding the above items

What will water systems need to do after the LCRI compliance date, three years from publication of the final LCRI in the federal register?

• Submit a service line materials inventory that includes connector materials

• Validate the accuracy of certain non-lead service line classifications within seven years

• Submit a lead service line replacement plan

• Fully replace lead and galvanized requiring replacement service lines within 10 years

• Begin conducting tap sampling following new tier classifications and protocols; systems with lead and galvanized requiring replacement service lines will need to begin standard monitoring

• Comply with a new lead action level of 0.010 mg/L based on 90th percentile tap samples

• Begin a five-year period of sampling for lead in elementary schools and licensed childcare facilities constructed before 2014 or served by a lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or lead status unknown service line

• Increase public outreach and education

We will publish additional insights and information to help water systems navigate and comply with lead and copper rules and continue helping them develop and implement customized compliance programs.