Despite the known toxicity of lead water infrastructure, 6 million to 10 million lead service lines are still operating in the United States. After her son contracted lead poisoning from pipes in their home, Deanna Branch called for action to remove lead from her community.
When Deanna took her 2-year-old son Aidan in for a routine health checkup, she was horrified to learn that he had lead poisoning. Deanna rushed him to the hospital and soon learned that her family’s rental home was full of lead paint and lead pipes. To protect the health of Aidan and her other son back home, Deanna chose to move out of their house. She and her sons ended up living in a shelter for several months until they were able to move in with family. When Deanna learned of the Biden administration’s lead removal funding in the bipartisan infrastructure law, she was thrilled to see the government finally taking action to remove dangerous lead from her community. Funds from this legislation are now being used to massively accelerate lead removal, ensuring that families such as Deanna’s do not have to risk being poisoned by lead in their own homes.
Milwaukee has a massive problem with lead paint and lead pipes. Even to this day, we don’t fully trust the water in our sink. Our current house was inspected when we moved in, but we still use a lead filter and drink a lot of bottled water. The Biden administration’s funds to remove lead infrastructure will go a long way toward making us feel safe in our home again.
Deanna Branch
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is devoting $3 billion to help communities remove and replace lead service lines. This investment will protect families such as Deanna’s from the dangerous long-term health effects of lead toxicity.
Read more on how laws passed under Biden have helped Americans
This collection features stories from Americans across the country whose lives and communities have benefited from the legislative and executive actions passed under the Biden administration.