Advocates, Lawmakers, and Residents Urge Lawmakers to Pass Lead Pipe Replacement Act to Protect Clean Water

Albany, NY — Today, advocates, lawmakers, and New Yorkers impacted by lead poisoning gathered at the Capitol to call for urgent action to eliminate lead pipes from New York’s drinking water systems.

Speakers urged the Legislature to pass the Lead Pipe Replacement Act (S6892/A7878) and include at least $100 million in funding for lead pipe replacement in the state budget to protect families from dangerous lead exposure. Both the Senate and Assembly budget proposals included $100 million for lead pipe replacement.

Across New York, an estimated half a million lead service lines remain in use, exposing families to contaminated drinking water and putting New Yorkers — especially children — at risk of lifelong health impacts like developmental disabilities and speech and hearing problems. There is no safe level of lead exposure.

The Lead Pipe Replacement Act would establish a statewide plan to identify and replace lead service lines, ensuring our state meets new federal requirements to dig all of these pipes out of the ground by 2037. Replacements would be offered at no direct cost to New Yorkers, saving state residents thousands of dollars, and utilities would receive new tools like easier access to properties to speed up replacements. Funding in the state budget would provide communities key resources needed to do this work.

“Every New Yorker deserves clean, safe drinking water at home,” said Rob Hayes, Senior Director of Clean Water at Environmental Advocates NY. “But hundreds of thousands of lead pipes are still delivering water to families across the state, and New York must adopt new policies and resources to replace them. Passing the Lead Pipe Replacement Act and committing real funding in the state budget would finally put New York on a path to get the lead out everywhere.”

Lawmakers sponsoring the bill and New Yorkers who have experienced the devastating impacts of lead exposure spoke out at the event.

Bill Sponsors

“Lead pipes pose a serious threat to drinking water and can cause severe, often irreversible harm. This bill addresses the urgent public health emergency posed by lead service lines and affirms the state’s responsibility to remove them with urgency,” said Lead Pipe Replacement Act sponsor and Chair of the Senate Health Committee Senator Gustavo Rivera. “I call on my colleagues in the Legislature to pass this bill so that we eliminate toxic infrastructure, protect communities from lead contamination, and ensure New Yorkers have access to clean water once and for all.”

“There is no safe level of lead for children, and lead exposure can have serious lifelong negative health impacts,” said bill sponsor and Chair of the Assembly Health Committee Assemblywoman Amy Paulin. “The Lead Pipe Replacement Act gives New York a path to get these dangerous pipes out of the ground and ensure that every family, regardless of zip code or income, has access to clean, safe drinking water. I urge my colleagues in the Legislature to pass this bill and invest the funding needed to make childhood lead poisoning a thing of the past in New York State.”

Impacted New Yorkers

Jona Favreau, a mother, advocate, and City Council member in Troy, NY, discovered that her child tested positive for lead poisoning in 2022 after high levels of lead were discovered in their drinking water. Favreau successfully pushed Troy to change its policy in 2023 and commit to replacing all lead pipes at no direct cost to residents.

“I’m asking you to pass the Lead Pipe Replacement Act not for me — my family has already lived through the consequences of lead contaminated water. I’m asking for the families who don’t yet know that their pipes are poisoning their children. I’m asking to ensure the cost of lead service line replacements does not fall on the shoulders of our working families. This legislation would make safe drinking water what it should have always been: a right, not a luxury reserved for those who can afford it.”

Oceanna Fair, a Syracuse resident, retired nurse, and Chair of Families for Lead Freedom Now whose brother and granddaughter were poisoned by lead, described the generational toll of lead poisoning in neighborhoods across Syracuse.

“Communities already living with the daily dangers of lead paint and aging lead pipes cannot be asked to wait their turn. These neighborhoods face the highest cumulative risk, and prioritizing them is essential to stopping the compounding harm families have endured for generations. Replacing lead pipes equitably isn’t just smart public health policy — it’s a matter of justice for the New Yorkers who have been overlooked for far too long.”

Gabrielle Hill, an Orange County Legislator from Newburgh, shared her experience after her daughter tested positive for nearly fatal levels of lead as a toddler.

“My daughter had to undergo chelation therapy to remove the lead from her body, and we were forced out of our home for six months,” Gabrielle Hill said. “No parent should ever have to go through that. Eliminating lead pipes is one of the most important steps we can take to protect families.”

Other Supportive Legislators and Organizations

“Passing this Act is just common sense for anyone who thinks drinking water in New York should be safe and affordable. Lead is a neurotoxin with no ‘safe’ level, and by drinking water through these lead straws hundreds of thousands of New York families are in danger,” said Valerie Baron, National Policy Director and Senior Attorney, NRDC. “Replacing these legacy toxic pipes is overdue, and with real investment New York can protect our water and health, and put people to work, too.”

Senator April N.M. Baskin said, “Across New York, hundreds of thousands of lead service lines are still delivering drinking water into people’s homes. In the City of Buffalo alone, at least 45% of water service lines contain lead, and in my 63rd Senate District, there are more than 28,000 lead pipes still in use. Lead poisoning disproportionately impacts Black and low-income neighborhoods, where aging infrastructure and historic disinvestment have compounded risk. That is why I strongly support the Lead Pipe Replacement Act and am fighting to include $100 million in the state budget to fund lead service line replacements across New York. This investment will help communities remove these dangerous pipes faster and ensure homeowners are not forced to pay thousands of dollars to fix a public infrastructure problem they did not create.”

Assemblymember John T. McDonald III, RPh said, “As a former mayor, health care professional, and as an Assemblymember who has consistently led the effort to fund Clean Water Infrastructure in New York State budgets with my colleague Assemblymember Otis, I understand the importance of continuing to dedicate funding toward lead pipe replacement and the need to increase our commitment toward clean water infrastructure. Thank you to Assemblymember Paulin for carrying the Lead Pipe Replacement Act, a bill that I proudly cosponsor. I firmly believe that we all need to work together to address the need to replace lead pipes which lead to elevated lead water levels. Thank you to everyone involved for your advocacy on this important issue.”

“Every family in New York deserves safe, clean drinking water, and that means finally getting the lead out of our infrastructure,” said Assemblymember Pamela Hunter. “I recently hosted a panel discussion with advocates and experts on the urgent need for full lead pipe replacement, and the message was clear, communities like Syracuse cannot wait any longer. Passing the Lead Pipe Replacement Act and committing real funding in this year’s budget will help ensure families across New York are protected from the dangers of lead exposure.”

Assemblymember Jen Lunsford said, “For too long, we have relied on children’s health as indicators that people are exposed to dangerously high levels of lead in their homes and schools.  The prevalence of lead pipes has long presented an unacceptable risk to our families. We must prioritize investment in replacing this infrastructure and ensuring that the high cost of protecting the public’s health does not fall upon the shoulders of individual homeowners and tax payers.”

“With the EPA’s regulatory authority, capacity, and mandates all under siege, the Lead Pipe Replacement Act (S6892/A7878) is a critical prophylactic measure to preserve and advance the recent improvements to the federal Lead and Copper Rule,” said Troy Councilmember Greg Campbell-Cohen. “Cities in upstate New York like Rochester, Troy, and Albany have demonstrated how quickly progress can be made to address childhood lead poisoning through service line replacement in only a few years once there is ample pressure, guidance, and resources to begin.”

“Syracuse’s lead water crisis should be a wake-up call for New York, where lead in the drinking water continues to put countless families at risk of irreparable harm,” said Lanessa Chaplin, Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Racial Justice Center. “Black children are bearing the greatest burden of lead exposure. That is the result of inaction and mismanagement at every level of government, not chance. Every day that passes exposes more New Yorkers to harm. Lawmakers must pass the Lead Pipe Replacement Act to ensure that vulnerable communities are no longer last in line for safe drinking water.”

“All New Yorkers who have a lead pipe are in the same boat and deserve safe passage to its removal,” said Joshua Klainberg, Senior Vice President , NYLCV. “The Lead Pipe Replacement Act is a ‘gold standard’ plan for lead pipe removal as it ensures that the process is quick, efficient, equitable, and cost-effective across every zip code. Given the fast-approaching federal mandate that all water systems submit their lead pipe removal plans to the state by November 2027, now is the time for the legislature to act.”

“Everyone should be able to drink clean, lead-free, safe water straight from their tap,” said Gabrielle Gonzales, coordinator of Lead Free Kids NY. “People across the state are already getting exposed to lead paint hazards through legacy lead paint; we do not want the water that they drink to also be an exposure route. New York State needs to get all lead service lines out, as soon as possible.” 

“In the midst of this affordability crisis, we need to protect individual New York homeowners from footing the bill to remove toxic lead pipes delivering drinking water throughout the state,” said Liz Moran, New York Policy Advocate for Earthjustice. “The Lead Pipe Replacement Act (LPRA) directly ensures that the cost of ending this public health crisis is not shifted to individual families who took no part in installing lead pipes decades ago. This commonsense solution ensures that all New Yorkers will have access to lead-free service lines, regardless of their income.” 

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).

Environmental Advocates NY is New York’s leading environmental watchdog, working for over 50 years to advance strong environmental laws and hold decision-makers accountable.