A Strategy for Engaging Stakeholders on Lead in Drinking Water
Rhode Island is estimated to have between 75,000 and 120,000 lead service lines still in the ground, concentrated in older cities like Providence and Pawtucket, with a full replacement cost of roughly $1.8 billion and nearly half the state's service lines missing basic material records entirely.
This strategy responds to the EPA's 2024 revised Lead and Copper Rule, which requires every water system to map its lead pipes and remove them within a decade, by proposing a coordinated, inter-agency stakeholder engagement approach targeting a 20% annual replacement rate. The paper centers the civil rights dimension of the crisis, since the burden falls hardest on lower-income neighborhoods with the least capacity to track or fund remediation on their own.
Rhode Island's lead lines
Up to 120,000 lead lines, four in ten service lines of unknown material, and a target of one-fifth a year
Estimated lead service lines still in the ground
75,000–120,000 lines · $1.8 billion to replace
Service lines with no recorded material
4 in 10
Replacement pace the plan steers by
20%20%20%20%20%
EPA rule (2024): all lead lines out within 10 yearsRhode Island law: 2033 deadline
How the plan defines success
- 1 in 5 lines replaced each year
- 8 in 10 children below 3 µg/dL blood lead
- 3 in 4 stakeholders say the process works