President Joe Biden made an appearance in Milwaukee on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate his initiative to replace lead pipes in the city and provide accessible drinking water.
The afternoon opened with a series of speakers, including Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. Biden closed the celebration with a speech of his own, recognizing the work being done in Milwaukee and around the country.
“The only way forward is to replace every lead pipeline and connect the American people to clean water,” Biden said.
The efforts to provide clean water are a part of Biden’s measure to remove lead pipes across the United States, which aims to remove chemicals from drinking water while providing jobs to those involved in its execution. The action in Milwaukee continues a long-running project in which 367,000 lead pipe services across the United States have already been replaced.
“It’s with the president’s partnership that we are moving Milwaukee forward in the best direction possible,” Johnson said.
The initiative aspires to have all lead pipelines replaced within ten years, flying in the face of the previous projection which estimated a 60-year span until full implementation.
“As we work to make Milwaukee County the healthiest community in Wisconsin, there is one key area that we must address in our region, and that is lead poisoning,” Crowley said. “Lead exposure can cause serious lasting health issues and developmental delays, especially among young children under the age of six.”
Crowley asserted that the project would not have been possible without federal reform acts, naming the American Rescue Plan Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan took the stage after Crowley, sharing that the new plan under EPA lead and copper standards allows for not only increased accessibility to clean water, but also a large number of new jobs. For every $1 billion invested in water infrastructure, 15,000 “good-paying jobs” are created for laborers, plumbers, and pipe-fitters.
After taking the stage to “Thank you, Joe” chants from Milwaukeeans, Biden shared his personal desire to bring the project to fruition.
“For too long, local communities have known how important it was to deal with this problem but hadn’t been given the national priority to manage it,” Biden said. “I’m here today to tell you that I’m finally insisting that it gets prioritized.”
This story was written by Lance Schulteis. He can be reached at [email protected].
