WASHINGTON (Reuters] – On Thursday, the Biden administration revealed a new plan that would accelerate the elimination of lead pipes as well as lead paint within the next ten year period. The goal is to eliminate a deadly toxin which can cause brain damage and impede the development of young children.

According to this plan, $3 billion of funding will be provided by President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law for states, tribes, territories and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This money will go towards lead line replacements in 2022. This law will contribute $15 billion towards achieving that goal.

The EPA is also writing new rules to create “new, binding requirements” about eliminating lead pipes, Ali Zaidi, deputy national climate adviser, told reporters.

According to the White House, approximately 10,000,000 American households and 400,000 U.S. schools have access to drinking water via lead pipes and other service lines. Additionally, 24 million homes are known for having significant lead paint exposure.

In an announcement made at AFL-CIO Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Vice President Kamala Hari said that “the science is clear” about the effects of drinking water from lead pipes on the body. She cited brain damage and stunted growth.

Harris stated that “the bottom line is that people should not be exposed to the same substance as they were back in 18 century poisoning.”

According to the White House, this funding is in addition to $350 billion that was provided by a relief package for coronavirus. States are allowed to use the money for lead pipes or the replacement of fixtures and faucets inside child care centers and schools.

One official was asked by reporters, in an interview before the announcement of the plan, if it would be necessary for the administration to remove all lead services lines within ten years.

We plan to submit a proposal for a rule with a timeline that’s very similar to the decade aspiration the President set out. However, we can’t commit at this stage in the rulemaking process to 10 years, 15, or 15 years. “It is how the rule-making processes works,” said the official.

In December 2020 the Trump Administration completed its 30th year-long update on regulations for lead in drinking waters. It was a response to the 2014 Flint, Michigan, water crisis, when the predominantly Black city of 100,000 switched its drinking water supply from Detroit’s system to the Flint River to save money, unleashing water contamination that led to elevated lead levels in children’s blood.

It requires utilities to notify their customers about high lead levels within 24 hours – not 30 days. They also have to require lead testing in primary schools and childcare centers for the first-time. Water systems must also notify the public of the location of any lead-service lines.

Lead can be a neurotoxin and damage the brain, as well as cause behavioral and stomach issues. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no safe amount of lead in water. Children are especially vulnerable.