Could it cost at least $30 billion to get the rest of the lead out of the US water supply?
The American Water Works Association estimated in 2016 that 6.1 million water service lines in the U.S. are lead-based, meaning a significant number of American households—somewhere between 15 and 22 million people—are routinely exposed to trace amounts of lead in their water. The industry group said a "reasonable estimate" for replacing each affected line was $5,000, a total cost of more over $30 billion. The 2016 figure was down from 10.2 million lines in 1991.
A more detailed 2019 report from the University of Minnesota found that while replacing the 100,000 existing lead-containing service lines in the state would cost between $1.52 billion and $4.12 billion over 20 years, it would lead to projected benefits of between $4.24 billion and $8.47 billion over that same period.
