Long-Awaited EPA Lead Pipe Rule Could Be Pushed Back Again

The long-awaited revamp of the EPA’s lead pipe regulations may be delayed once again, despite an urgency surrounding the issue following the Flint, Mich., lead water contamination crisis that began in 2014.

The top two officials in the agency’s water division could not commit to the current timeline of releasing a draft version of the update this January. The officials spoke Oct. 18 at a conference of state water regulators in Norfolk, Va.

The regulation in question governs how much lead is acceptable in drinking water and what utilities must do if their water tests above the threshold. In the ...