Florida and Texas LSL Corrective Actions
Background
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or BIL) provides $15 billion from Fiscal Years 2022-2026 in Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) funding for lead service line replacement and associated activities. The EPA has a responsibility under the Safe Drinking Water Act to allot these funds to states commensurate with the lead service line replacement needs of each state. By law, the formula to allot these funds to states is based on the Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA). States have proven to be a reliable source of information for drinking water infrastructure needs under the DWINSA. Based on information submitted by states, the EPA estimates that there are 9 million lead pipes remaining across the country. However, we also know communities and water systems were working hard to identify what materials their service lines are made of when the DWINSA was conducted in 2021. At the time, most systems did not know how many lead service lines they had. The EPA has continually updated its processes to collect and use the best available data for these allotments, requesting updated lead pipe information from all states in 2023. It’s important to underscore that the EPA relies on states to accurately and cooperatively report updated data in order to use the best-available information for these allotments and ultimately allot funds to places with the greatest need. The EPA’s quality assurance efforts include specific quality control work with multiple states, including Texas and Florida.
The EPA and the EPA’s Office of Inspector General identified risk with lead service line data previously provided by the States of Florida and Texas. Because of these concerns, the EPA needed more information from these states to evaluate the appropriateness of their Fiscal Year 2023 BIL lead service line allotments. Therefore, the EPA added a special Term and Condition to these states’ FY23 BIL lead service line capitalization grants. This special term and condition required Florida and Texas to provide Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR) initial lead service line inventory data for systems that participated in the most recent (7th) DWINSA. Information on lead service lines has evolved since the initial estimates of lead service line counts and the initial lead service line inventories, required under the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR) to be submitted to states by October 2024, now represent the best-available data on lead service line counts in each state.
The EPA reviewed the data that Florida and Texas submitted under the special condition for surveyed systems’ LCRR initial inventory data and determined that the funding amounts Florida and Texas received exceeded commensurate needs. As a result, the EPA is reducing the Fiscal Year 2023 capitalization grant for these states by a total of $314 million. The EPA will reallot these funds, along with other remaining FY 2023 funds to other states, ensuring the EPA meets its obligations to allot funds commensurate with states’ lead service line replacement needs.
Florida
The EPA is taking corrective action because of the concerns that Florida did not reliably report data to the EPA under the 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA). The EPA required Florida to provide Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) initial inventory data for 7th DWINSA surveyed systems. Upon review of this data, the EPA determined that it is necessary to de-obligate $226,138,000 from Florida’s Fiscal Year 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Replacement capitalization grant. Based on the surveyed systems’ LCRR initial inventory data, Florida’s projected lead service line count is 64,000. In the context of the FY 2023 and FY 2024 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Replacement allotments, this lead service line count would result in a 1% allotment for Florida. Therefore, the EPA also determined that Florida may only apply for and receive up to $28,650,000 (1% allotment) for the FY 2024 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Replacement capitalization grant.
- Florida Special Condition Cover Letter (pdf)
- Florida Special Condition Notification Letter (pdf)
- Florida De-obligation Cover Letter (pdf)
- Florida De-obligation Notification Letter (pdf)
- Florida Surveyed Systems LCRR Inventories Submitted by State (xlsx)
Texas
The EPA is taking corrective action because of the concerns that Texas did not reliably report data to the EPA under the 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA). The EPA required Texas to provide Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) initial inventory data for 7th DWINSA surveyed systems. Upon review of this data, the EPA determined that it is necessary to de-obligate $88,291,000 from Texas’ Fiscal Year 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Replacement capitalization grant. Based on the surveyed systems’ LCRR initial inventory data, Texas’s projected lead service line count is 190,000. In the context of the Fiscal Year 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Replacement allotments, this lead service line count would result in a 2.02% allotment for Texas.