In March 2020 I reviewed the proposed Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) revisions by stating that it is “critical to the water community's ongoing efforts to protect consumers from the risk of lead in drinking water. The revised rule is an important step and there are several opportunities to make it better.” On Jan. 15, 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) published the final LCR. Yes, the Biden administration delayed the effective date. Yes, there are multiple parties that have filed petitions in the US District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Yes, the Biden administration is seeking a stay of ongoing litigation to allow it to review the rule. Still, none of these actions change the fact that water systems and state regulators are required to meet the compliance deadlines in the final rule as published—we should get started now.

The standard of care that USEPA incorporated into the final rule for virtually every action required by water systems will be challenging to meet. Given the public health and political significance of lead, water systems must do more than simply comply with the letter of the law. Large and midsize water systems face the most severe hurdles, particularly if they are behind the curve and must take additional actions because they have exceeded the lead action level or the new trigger level.

AWWA and USEPA have different estimates of how many systems will be required to engage in mandatory lead service line replacement and mandatory revision of corrosion control practice. An initial estimate is that 40% of larger systems with lead service lines will be undertaking both these activities. The sector knows from experience that when systems rush into corrosion control revision and lead service line replacement programs, they can end up in very challenging implementation circumstances and sustain substantial loss of public confidence.

Water systems often can rely on states for counsel in times of crisis. In this instance, however, states are trying to determine how to manage the workload associated with the rule while providing oversight for hundreds if not thousands of systems. While deadlines are now three and four years away, when they arrive, states will be dealing with a deluge of service line inventories, lead service line replacement plans, revised sample plans, exceedances, tier‐1 public notifications, and then the follow‐through on those exceedances. There will not be an opportunity to learn from the successes and mistakes of others unless water systems start now and take the steps necessary to comply.

The LCR revisions are the most effective and most expensive Safe Drinking Water Act rulemaking since the Surface Water Treatment Rule. The revised rule is arriving as water systems face revenue shortfalls from the impacts of COVID‐19, and they are unable to engage their communities and community leadership in person. It's challenging to focus on a rule with compliance dates several years away, but focus we must without delay.

Systems that have lead service lines, galvanized service lines preceded by lead pipe, and service lines of unknown material will face an arduous rule framework come January 2025. Taking steps appropriate to your community to address these lines—removing those that need to be removed, characterizing those that are uncharacterized, reaching consensus on how lead services on private property will be managed in your community—will pay dividends in public confidence. Legwork accomplished now on inventories, protocols, outreach materials, and intra‐agency planning can facilitate hitting the ground running when pandemic restrictions ease.

在2020年3月，我回顾了拟议的铅和铜规则（LCR）修订，指出“这对水社区为保护消费者免受饮用水中铅风险的持续努力至关重要。修改后的规则是重要的一步，有很多机会可以使它变得更好。” 2021年1月15日，美国环境保护署（USEPA）发布了最终的LCR。是的，拜登政府推迟了生效日期。是的，有多个当事方已在美国地方法院DC巡回法院提出了请愿书。是的，拜登政府正在寻求中止正在进行的诉讼，以允许其审查规则。仍然，

USEPA几乎将水系统要求采取的所有行动纳入最终规则的护理标准将具有挑战性。考虑到铅的公共卫生和政治意义，水系统所要做的不只是简单地遵守法律规定。大型和中型水系统面临最严峻的障碍，尤其是如果它们落后于弯道，并且必须采取其他行动，因为它们已经超出了领先行动水平或新的触发水平。

AWWA和USEPA对强制性铅服务线更换和腐蚀控制方法的强制性修订需要多少系统进行了不同的估算。初步估计是，有铅服务线的大型系统中有40％将同时进行这两项活动。该行业从经验中知道，当系统急于进行腐蚀控制修订和铅服务线更换计划时，它们可能会遇到非常具有挑战性的实施情况，并使公众信心大大丧失。

在危机时期，供水系统通常可以依靠国家的帮助。但是，在这种情况下，各州试图确定如何管理与规则相关联的工作负载，同时对数百个（如果不是数千个）系统进行监督。虽然截止日期已经到了三，四年了，但是到达时，各州将要处理大量的服务项目清单，主要的服务项目更换计划，修订的样本计划，超出范围，一级公开通知，然后再进行后续工作。在这些方面。除非供水系统现在开始并采取必要的步骤以遵守法规，否则就没有机会学习他人的成功和错误。

LCR修订版是自《地表水处理规则》以来最有效，最昂贵的《安全饮用水法》规则制定者。由于水系统面临因COVID-19的影响而造成的收入短缺，并且他们无法亲自参与社区活动和社区领导，因此修订后的规则即将到来。专注于遵守日期已经过了几年的规则具有挑战性，但是我们必须毫不拖延地关注它。

到2025年1月，具有铅服务线，镀锌服务线和铅管的服务线以及未知材料的服务线的系统将面临艰巨的规则框架。请采取适合您所在社区的措施来解决这些问题-删除需要删除的服务，对那些没有特征的项目进行特征分析，就如何在您的社区中管理私有财产的领先服务达成共识，这将使公众充满信心。现在，在大流行限制放宽时，有关清单，协议，外联材料和机构内计划的法律工作可以促进实地工作。