National Opportunity for Lead Exposure Accountability and Deterrence Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2086 To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to improve transparency under the national primary drinking water regulations for lead and copper, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 11, 2019 Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to improve trans- parency under the national primary drinking water regu- lations for lead and copper, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Opportunity 4 for Lead Exposure Accountability and Deterrence Act of 5 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2086 IS SEC. 2. NATIONAL PRIMARY DRINKING WATER REGULA- 1 TIONS FOR LEAD AND COPPER. 2 The Safe Drinking Water Act is amended by insert- 3 ing after section 1417 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 300g–6) 4 the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 1417A. NATIONAL PRIMARY DRINKING WATER REGU- 6 LATIONS FOR LEAD AND COPPER. 7 ‘‘(a) LEAD AND COPPER RULE.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The national primary 9 drinking water regulations for lead and copper (in 10 this section referred to as the ‘lead and copper rule’) 11 shall include each of the requirements described in 12 this section. 13 ‘‘(2) REVISION.—The Administrator shall revise 14 the lead and copper in accordance with this sec- 15 tion— 16 ‘‘(A) not later than 9 months after the 17 date of enactment of the National Opportunity 18 for Lead Exposure Accountability and Deter- 19 rence Act of 2019; and 20 ‘‘(B) thereafter, in accordance with section 21 1412(b). 22 ‘‘(b) SAMPLING.— 23 ‘‘(1) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection applies 24 with respect to sampling by a public water system 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2086 IS of lead or copper in drinking water, irrespective of 1 whether such sampling— 2 ‘‘(A) is required by the lead and copper 3 rule; or 4 ‘‘(B) is voluntary sampling initiated by 5 customers of the public water system. 6 ‘‘(2) REPORTING.—Subject to paragraph (3), a 7 public water system shall report the results of sam- 8 pling to the Administrator or the State exercising 9 primary enforcement responsibility, as applicable, 10 and shall include in such reporting— 11 ‘‘(A) the number of residential and non- 12 residential facilities at which the sampling was 13 conducted; 14 ‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (4), the address 15 of such residential and nonresidential facilities; 16 ‘‘(C) previous samples taken at such resi- 17 dential and nonresidential facilities and the re- 18 sults of those samples; 19 ‘‘(D) where such information exists, the 20 material composition of the service lines at such 21 residential and nonresidential facilities; 22 ‘‘(E) the dates on which the respective 23 sampling occurred; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(F) the highest and median lead and cop- 1 per levels detected; 2 ‘‘(G) the 90th percentile lead and copper 3 levels (as such percentile is calculated under 4 section 141.80 of title 40, Code of Federal Reg- 5 ulations, and any successor regulations) de- 6 tected; 7 ‘‘(H) the number and value of all samples 8 above the lead or copper action levels; 9 ‘‘(I) the disinfectants and corrosion inhibi- 10 tors being used and the target doses at the 11 water treatment plant; 12 ‘‘(J) any changes since the previous report 13 under this section in the type, method, or quan- 14 tity of treatments being used in the water sam- 15 pled; 16 ‘‘(K) the history of violations, and fines re- 17 ceived, by the system; 18 ‘‘(L) the number of samples invalidated 19 and the reason for their invalidation; and 20 ‘‘(M) if sampling is conducted at residen- 21 tial facilities other than those with lead service 22 lines, an explanation of why such sampling was 23 conducted. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—A 1 public water system shall make publicly available 2 any report that is required by this section or by the 3 lead and copper rule. 4 ‘‘(4) PRIVACY.—A public water system shall 5 give the owner of each residential and nonresidential 6 facility at which sampling data is collected the op- 7 tion to be identified only by block number and street 8 name. 9 ‘‘(5) SAMPLING PROTOCOL; INSTRUCTIONS.— 10 The Administrator shall— 11 ‘‘(A) develop a protocol for sampling for 12 compliance with the lead and copper rule; 13 ‘‘(B) in such protocol— 14 ‘‘(i) prohibit the use of techniques 15 that minimize the detection of lead or cop- 16 per in drinking water; 17 ‘‘(ii) require sampling under this sec- 18 tion to occur not less than once per year; 19 ‘‘(iii) include criteria for site selection 20 that prioritize testing at high-risk build- 21 ings; 22 ‘‘(iv) require sampling at all drinking 23 water taps in all schools served by the pub- 24 lic water system; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(v) require the sampling methodology 1 to be scientifically based; and 2 ‘‘(C) develop instructions for compliance 3 with such protocol for dissemination to public 4 water systems and customers thereof. 5 ‘‘(c) ACTION LEVEL EXCEEDED.— 6 ‘‘(1) INVESTIGATIONS.—The Administrator (or 7 the State exercising primary enforcement responsi- 8 bility) shall require on-site investigations on where 9 the source of lead is for all individual samples with 10 a lead or copper concentration above the action 11 level— 12 ‘‘(A) to be completed by the public water 13 system or local health department within 10 14 business days of the sample result; and 15 ‘‘(B) to include additional samples at addi- 16 tional locations to identify the potential scope of 17 elevated lead or copper levels. 18 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION.—Whenever a public water 19 system detects a lead or copper concentration level 20 above the action level, the system shall— 21 ‘‘(A) within 2 calendar days of detecting 22 such an exceedance that is specific to one or 23 more facilities, notify the persons at such facili- 24 ties; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(B) within 10 calendar days of completion 1 of sampling for a monitoring period applicable 2 under section 141.86 of title 40, Code of Fed- 3 eral Regulations (or any successor regulation), 4 make a report on any exceedance detected pur- 5 suant to such sampling publicly available. 6 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC EDUCATION.—The lead and copper rule 7 shall require testing results— 8 ‘‘(1) to be in a standardized format; 9 ‘‘(2) to be posted on the website of the Admin- 10 istrator, the State exercising primary enforcement 11 responsibility, and the public water system; and 12 ‘‘(3) to include— 13 ‘‘(A) the provisions of consumer confidence 14 reports under section 1414(c)(4) relating to 15 lead and copper; 16 ‘‘(B) reports under subsection (b)(2) on 17 the results of sampling; 18 ‘‘(C) lead service line replacement mate- 19 rials and financial assistance forms; and 20 ‘‘(D) how a consumer can request a water 21 test. 22 ‘‘(e) SERVICE LINE INVENTORY.—A public water 23 system shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(1) develop, maintain, and beginning not later 1 than 3 years after the date of enactment of the Na- 2 tional Opportunity for Lead Exposure Accountability 3 and Deterrence Act of 2019 make publicly accessible 4 an inventory of the material composition of the serv- 5 ice lines at all residential and nonresidential facili- 6 ties, including— 7 ‘‘(A) online maps showing the locations of 8 lead service lines; and 9 ‘‘(B) where information is available, a his- 10 tory of services performed on such lines, includ- 11 ing partial line replacement; 12 ‘‘(2) give the owners of such residential and 13 nonresidential facilities the option to be identified 14 only by block number and street name; and 15 ‘‘(3) in developing such inventory, take meas- 16 ures to minimize any disturbance to service lines 17 that might release contaminants. 18 ‘‘(f) SERVICE LINE OWNERSHIP.—A public water 19 system shall collect, maintain, and beginning not later 20 than 3 years after the date of enactment of the National 21 Opportunity for Lead Exposure Accountability and Deter- 22 rence Act of 2019 make publicly accessible all legal docu- 23 ments establishing the ownership of service lines at resi- 24 dential and nonresidential facilities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(g) SERVICE LINE REPLACEMENT.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whenever a public water 2 system replaces a lead service line, the lead and cop- 3 per rule shall— 4 ‘‘(A) require the system to replace the line 5 from the transmission line to where the line en- 6 ters the facility; and 7 ‘‘(B) prohibit partial replacement. 8 ‘‘(2) PRIORITIZATION.—The lead and copper 9 rule shall require any public water system engaged 10 in replacing lead service lines to prioritize such re- 11 placement at high-risk buildings. 12 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘high-risk buildings’ means— 14 ‘‘(A) residential and nonresidential facili- 15 ties with lead service lines— 16 ‘‘(i) that have galvanized pipes; 17 ‘‘(ii) that have low water use; or 18 ‘‘(iii) whose lead service lines are 19 among the longest served by the public 20 water system; and 21 ‘‘(B) residential facilities at which one or 22 more pregnant women or children reside. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(2) The term ‘lead service line’ means a serv- 1 ice line that is not lead free (within the meaning of 2 section 1417). 3 ‘‘(3) The term ‘publicly available’ means that a 4 report is— 5 ‘‘(A) written in plain language that is cul- 6 turally and linguistically appropriate; and 7 ‘‘(B)(i) published on a publicly accessible 8 website of the public water system; or 9 ‘‘(ii) if the system does not maintain a 10 publicly accessible website, distributed by car- 11 rier route to the persons served by the sys- 12 tem.’’. 13 SEC. 3. TO LOWER THE ACTION LEVEL FOR LEAD IN DRINK- 14 ING WATER. 15 Section 1412(b) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 16 U.S.C. 300g–1(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 17 following new paragraph: 18 ‘‘(16) LEAD IN DRINKING WATER.—The Ad- 19 ministrator shall revise the national primary drink- 20 ing water regulation for lead to ensure that— 21 ‘‘(A) not later than December 31, 2022, 22 the action level for lead in drinking water is not 23 more than 10 parts per billion; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2086 IS ‘‘(B) not later than December 31, 2028, 1 the action level for lead in drinking water is not 2 more than 5 parts per billion.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:32 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS