(Radio Iowa) – New rules proposed by the EPA would require most cities in the country to replace lead pipes within ten years. Corey McCoid oversees the Iowa D-N-R’s drinking water program. “Replacing all the lead service lines is great. I think we’re going to need a little more time than 10 years to do that,” McCoid says.  McCoid says replacing lead lines won’t be easy.

“The challenge is going to be the cost and the time that we have to do that in the workforce to do it,” he says. ” I applaud the E-P-A’s efforts. And this is just the first crack at it. So we’ll take a hard look at this and see, see what we’re, we’ll land with this final rule that will come out next year.”

Iowa’s Bipartisan Infrastructure funding is providing 162 million dollars in grants through 2026 to address the issue of safe drinking water. Several Iowa cities have already requested funding to help replace lead pipes in their communities. The U-S banned the use of lead pipes in 1988.