“Get the Lead Out” federal law signed by President Obama
Four years ago, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) Board of Directors boldly launched a campaign to persuade California lawmakers to require manufacturers to remove lead from faucets and other water fixtures. It was given little chance of success in the face of strong opposition.
EBMUD’s Board of Directors, led by the relentless efforts of Board members John A. Coleman, Doug Linney and William B. Patterson, worked closely with Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, who sponsored California legislation AB 1953.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which determines the national lead content standard, currently allows up to 8 percent lead content for faucets and other plumbing fixtures, and limits the amount of lead that can leach from plumbing into drinking water. But health studies show that much smaller amounts of lead exposure can have serious impacts on children and adults, including kidney disease, hypertension, hearing loss and brain damage.
The new laws began with some disturbing observations by EBMUD staff in Oakland in 2004. As the District replaced plumbing fixtures in its system, engineers realized outdated state and federal laws permitted excessively high levels of lead in plumbing parts, information they shared with the Board.
This landmark public health legislation received the support of countless children’s health and public health organizations, hospitals, environmental and consumer protection advocates, in addition to state and national drinking water associations.
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New U.S. lead ban has roots in East Bay
Written by Mike Taugher for the Contra Costa Times, 1/7/11
A new federal law that bans lead in new faucets within three years is patterned after a 2006 California law that was sponsored by the East Bay's largest water district. For the past year, California has required that new faucets have no more than trace amounts of lead -- no more than 0.25 percent, a standard 32 times tougher than the old one. President Barack Obama this week signed a similar bill for the nation, which was carried by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto. The new law gives manufacturers three years to comply. California enacted its standard in 2006 after workers at the East Bay Municipal Utility District realized that despite water districts' insistence on lead-free fittings and valves for its water systems, home plumbing fixtures were permitted to contain up to 8 percent lead. "When we learned you could have up to 8 percent lead in your faucet and we knew you could make a faucet without lead, it was a no-brainer," said EBMUD lobbyist Randy Kanouse. Lead is a health threat, especially to children. Water districts such as EBMUD are required to test drinking water for lead at both treatment plants at the tap, so the district faced the possibility that its efforts to remove lead could be reversed by lead in household plumbing. The bill was strongly opposed and only had limited support within former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's circle of advisers, Kanouse said. "Everyone else ... hated the bill and said veto, veto, veto," Kanouse said. But he got a one-word e-mail shortly before the governor's deadline to act on bills in 2006. "Signed," it read. Vermont and Maryland followed California's initiative and the faucet-making industry saw the potential for a patchwork of different standards developing. An industry official said that while faucet makers saw the initial state legislation as unnecessary -- since they had to test to ensure lead did not leach from faucets into tap water -- it supported federal legislation. "Once it passed in California, our goal was to harmonize the rest of the country for the sake of efficiency," said Barbara Higgens, executive director of the Plumbing Manufacturers International near Chicago.
