WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $20 million in available grant funding to assist communities and schools with removing sources of lead in drinking water.  This grant funding, and additional funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help make rapid progress on the goal of addressing lead and removing lead pipes across the country.

“A pillar of our work at EPA is ensuring that every person in every community has safe drinking water,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox. “This grant funding will help reduce exposure to lead in drinking water and should be used to support underserved communities that are most at risk for exposure.”

Under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, EPA is announcing the availability of $10 million for projects to conduct lead service line replacements or implement corrosion control improvements and $10 million for projects that remove sources of lead in drinking water (e.g., fixtures, fountains, outlets and plumbing materials) in schools or childcare facilities.

EPA will award this funding in alignment with the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which seeks to deliver at least 40 percent of the benefits of certain federal investments to underserved communities. The agency encourages applications that support equity by prioritizing underserved communities, those with lead reduction projects at drinking water systems with at least one lead action level exceedance within the last three years, as well as those with schools with at least 50% of the children receiving free and reduced lunch, in Head Start facilities, and/or in areas with additional environmental health burdens (e.g., areas with older buildings likely to have lead-based paint).

This WIIN grant will be competed through a Request for Application process. The funding opportunity will remain open for 60 days on www.grants.gov.

Learn more about this grant and EPA’s WIIN grant programs at https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/drinking-water-grants.

Background

Lead poses serious health risks to both children and adults children are especially vulnerable. Low-income and other historically underserved communities typically experience high levels of lead in their drinking water because they are disproportionately served by lead services lines.

In addition to this announcement of funding availability, EPA is working with states, tribes, and territories to award over $50 million in fiscal year 2021 funding through EPA’s two other drinking water grant programs established by WIIN—the Voluntary Lead Testing in Schools and Child Care grant program and the Small, Underserved and Disadvantaged Communities (SUDC) Grant.