I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7918 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act with respect to replacement of 

lead service lines, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2020 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act with respect to 

replacement of lead service lines, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Get the Lead Out 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PLANS FOR REPLACEMENT OF LEAD SERVICE 

7 LINES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part E of the Safe Drinking 

9 Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j et seq.) is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 1459E. REPLACEMENT OF LEAD SERVICE LINES. 

2 ‘‘(a) PLANS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

5 after the date of enactment of this section, each 

6 community water system serving a population 

7 of 3,300 or more shall submit to the Adminis8 trator a plan to inventory and replace all the 

9 lead service lines of the community water sys10 tem, including the portions of such lead service 

11 lines that are owned by the community water 

12 system and any remaining portions of such lead 

13 service lines. 

14 ‘‘(B) SMALL SYSTEMS.—The Adminis15 trator shall require community water systems 

16 serving fewer than 3,300 persons to submit a 

17 plan under this section at such time as the Ad18 ministrator determines appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(2) INCLUSIONS.—Each plan submitted under 

20 this subsection shall include a plan and schedule 

21 for— 

22 ‘‘(A) notifying persons served by the appli23 cable community water system that, if author24 ized, the community water system will install 

25 interim filters that meet the criteria under 

26 paragraph (3) on all drinking water taps served 


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1 by the community water system with lead serv2 ice lines; 

3 ‘‘(B) installing such interim filters; and 

4 ‘‘(C) replacing all the lead service lines of 

5 the community water system not later than 10 

6 years after such plan is approved. 

7 ‘‘(3) FILTER CRITERIA.—Interim filters, and 

8 any replacement thereof, installed pursuant to a 

9 plan under this section— 

10 ‘‘(A) shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) be certified as compliant with 

12 NSF International/American National 

13 Standards Institute (‘ANSI’) Standard 

14 53–2017, ‘Drinking Water Treatment 

15 Units—Health Effects’, published by NSF 

16 International; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) incorporate an integral perform18 ance indication device as specified in sec19 tion 6.1 of NSF/ANSI standard 53–2017; 

20 or 

21 ‘‘(B) shall be certified as compliant with 

22 any standards adopted by NSF International, 

23 ANSI, or the Agency that are more stringent 

24 than the standards under subparagraph (A). 


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1 ‘‘(b) APPROVAL.—Not later than 6 months after a 

2 community water system submits a plan under this sec3 tion, the Administrator shall approve the plan or notify 

4 the community water system in writing of revisions the 

5 Administrator determines necessary to approve the plan. 

6 ‘‘(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 10 years 

7 after a plan under this section of a community water sys8 tem is approved by the Administrator, the community 

9 water system shall submit to the Administrator a certifi10 cation that all the lead service lines of the community 

11 water system have been replaced except for any lead serv12 ice line not owned by the community water system and 

13 with respect to which the owner has declined replacement 

14 by the community water system. 

15 ‘‘(d) EXTENSION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—A community water sys17 tem may submit an application to the Administrator 

18 for an extension of the 10-year deadline described in 

19 subsection (c). 

20 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL.—The Administrator shall ap21 prove an application for an extension under para22 graph (1) only if— 

23 ‘‘(A) the community water system submit24 ting the application has held a public hearing 


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1 and solicited public comment prior to submit2 ting the application; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the Administrator determines that 

4 lead service line replacement by the community 

5 water system is not feasible by the 10-year 

6 deadline described in subsection (c). 

7 ‘‘(3) PERIOD OF EXTENSION.—The Adminis8 trator may only grant an extension under this sub9 section for the minimum period of time necessary for 

10 the applicable community water system to replace all 

11 lead service lines of the community water system. 

12 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY.—The Adminis13 trator may take action to enforce a requirement of this 

14 section pursuant to section 1414(a)(2) with respect to a 

15 community water system in a State regardless of whether 

16 the State has primary enforcement responsibility for pub17 lic water systems. 

18 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘lead 

19 service line’ has the meaning given such term in section 

20 1459B(a). 

21 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

23 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 and 2022.’’. 


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1 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 1414(i)(1) of the Safe 

2 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g–3(i)(1)) is amended 

3 by striking ‘‘or 1445’’ and inserting ‘‘1445, or 1459E’’. 

4 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATIONS. 

5 (a) STATE REVOLVING LOAN FUNDS.—Section 

6 1452(m)(1)(C) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 300j–12(m)(1)(C)) is amended by striking 

8 ‘‘$1,950,000,000 for fiscal year 2021’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘$6,600,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 and 2022’’. 

10 (b) REDUCING LEAD IN DRINKING WATER.—Sub11 section (d) of section 1459B of the Safe Drinking Water 

12 Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–19b) is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 

15 ‘‘(1) $60,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2017 

16 through 2020; and 

17 ‘‘(2) $80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

18 and 2022.’’. 

Æ 


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