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Seven United States Senators introduced legislation titled:

Financing Lead Out of Water Act of 2022 (“Flow Act”)

The Senators introducing the legislation include:

• Senator Chris Van Hollen (Maryland)
• Ben Cardin (Maryland)
• Michael Bennet (Colorado)
• Cory Booker (New Jersey
• Sherrod Brown (Ohio)
• Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
• Dianne Feinstein (California)

The stated intent of the Flow Act is to facilitate the ability of cities and utilities to issue tax exempt bonds to finance replacement of lead service lines (“LSL”).

The sponsors cite United States Environmental Protection Agency statistics indicating that between 6 to 10 million homes in the country have lead water pipes. LSL connect the main water line located underground to the homes internal plumbing system. Privately owned pipes utilized by residents are being replaced slower because of the personal financial responsibility of the homeowners.

The Flow Act is stated to provide an explicit guarantee in the Internal Revenue Code providing public water utilities the ability to issue tax-exempt bonds for the removal and replacement of both publicly and privately-owned lead service lines. The intent is to better enable residents in areas with lead pipes to replace the LSL.

A copy of the Flow Act can be downloaded here.