Deadline: 27-Mar-23

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is pleased to announce the proposals for Complying with the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions for Water Systems with No- to Low- Prevalence of Lead Service Lines (LSLs) Project.

This project is funded by The Water Research Foundation (WRF) as part of WRF’s Emerging Opportunities Program.

Project Objectives 

• Provide utilities with guidance and/or approaches for complying with lead service line (LSL) inventory requirements in situations where they have few historical LSLs
• Develop method(s) for examining the potential for lead exposure associated with some types of galvanized requiring replacement (GRR) lines.

Research Approach 

• Engage lead and copper experts, including researchers, regulators, and utility staff, as appropriate.
• Reevaluate LCRR inventory requirements for service areas with low potential incidence of LSL and suggest alternative ways to comply.
• Determine—absent of physical verification—what combinations of verification methods and level of effort can be approved as sufficient to demonstrate that a line is not lead or lead-impacted. Illustrate this with hypothetical scenarios. As water utilities generally have records on utility side service lines and may already have this inventory in their GIS or computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), the focus should probably be on the customer side because they don’t have records on customer side service line.
• Determine—absent of complete historical records—what combinations of proof can be approved as sufficient to demonstrate that a line has never historically been lead. Demonstrating that the utility side service line has never been lead is particularly critical in determining whether a downstream galvanized line on the customer side is defined as GRR. Illustrate this with hypothetical scenarios.
• Investigate the water quality data associated with lines defined as GRR. Obtain and analyze GRR water quality and related sampling data (from existing data and/or field research) when a GRR is replaced, including pipe scale. Analyze and develop procedures that would predict the occurrence of lead and what factors might lead to a GRR not posing a risk for lead release.
• Determine, in a comprehensive and definitive way, whether GRRs in systems with LSLs replaced decade(s) ago pose a real risk of lead exposure for the purpose of potentially changing the requirement that all GRRs must be replaced.

Funding Information

• Applicants may request up to $100,000 in WRF funds for this project.
• The anticipated period of performance for this project is 12 months from the contract start date.

Expected Deliverables 

Considering the timing of the inventory compliance, it is recommended that the deliverables be phased. For the earlier phase, deliverables should include the appropriate methodology for utilities to develop inventories with few or no lead given the existing data the utilities have. For the later phase(s), deliverables should include materials for potentially changing the EPA guidance manual already issued or making changes in the rule text for Lead and Copper Rule improvements.

Eligibility Criteria

Proposals will be accepted from domestic or international entities, including educational institutions, research organizations, governmental agencies, and consultants or other for-profit entities.

For more information, visit Water Research Foundation.