Mayor’s Roadmap
6 Key Priorities for Lead Pipe Replacement
When mayors and city leaders champion lead pipe replacement, progress is made. The Mayor’s Roadmap lays out six key priorities to guide mayors and city leaders on how to replace their community’s lead pipes in 10 years and protect their residents from lead in drinking water.
Eliminating lead pipes would:
More than pay for itself
Create Jobs
Permanently upgrade aging infrastructure
Address disparities
The Road to Eliminating Lead Pipes in Your Community
Paving the way to healthier cities
The good news is that addressing the largest source of lead in drinking water has a straightforward solution: replace the lead pipes. Elected officials are critical to reaching this goal.
Commit to eliminating lead pipes in 10 years
Make a public commitment
Identify key partners and roles
Ensure full lead pipe replacement
Make a financial plan
Conduct an initial assessment of cost and timeline
Identify and pursue federal, state, and municipal funding opportunities
Reduce costs by finding efficiencies and scaling up
Establish equitable policies and practices
Prioritize vulnerable residents and neighborhoods
Engage homeowners and renters on replacement
Conduct replacement at no direct cost to the property owner
Involve your community
Increase transparency and build trust
Seek input from the community early and often
Bridge gaps between government and the community with effective, accessible outreach
Build a robust workforce
Require apprenticeship programs in lead pipe replacement contracts
Develop a worker pipeline through a workforce development program
Monitor progress and make improvements
Robustly document the work
Aim for continuous improvement
Celebrate milestones and boost community visibility
Check out the solution to solving this problem
Highlighting Mayoral Action
Cavalier Johnson
Milwaukee, Wisconsin“Doing this is about more than just replacing lead service lines . . . It’s about protecting our kids, and it’s more than even just protecting our kids. It’s about creating good-paying, family-supporting careers right here in Milwaukee.”
Mike Duggan
Detroit, Michigan“These lead lines were put in (a century ago) and over time, they will deteriorate. Detroit will not wait until we have a health problem . . . We expect to get through the entire city in the next 10 years."
Gary Christenson
Malden, Massachusetts“We have found over the years that for everything you want to do right, you need to work together. It’s the water department. It’s the city council. It’s the engineering department. I think that is how we’ve been able to get where we are.”
Learn more about mayoral action on our interactive map
About Us
The Mayor’s Roadmap is part of an initiative that draws on the expertise of advocates, engineers, policy experts, and real-world experiences.
The Mayor’s Roadmap was developed by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC). Advisors and partners include the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.