NJ’s Small Share of Lead Pipe Replacement Funding ‘Unacceptable’

August 19, 2022 | njspotlightnews.org

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill signed by President Joe Biden last year included $15 billion to remove lead service lines but a new report says that New Jersey will receive the second-lowest amount of money per lead pipe in the nation in the first round of funding. According to the report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, New Jersey has an estimated 350,000 lead service lines and is getting just over $48 million. That averages out to $138 per pipe — second-lowest to Ohio, at $109.

NJ SEED: Replacing and upgrading NJ’s aging underground infrastructure is long overdue and it doesn’t get less expensive with each passing year of inattention. NJ SEED urgers the Congressional delegation to press the Administration to increase the federal allotment to NJ for replacing lead service lines.