What's happening
This bill requires annual public reporting on the number, location, and condition of lead pipes in New York's water systems.
Why it matters
Improves transparency and public awareness. By requiring detailed, publicly accessible data (including maps and a searchable database) about the number, location, age, and length of lead pipes, the bill empowers communities and individuals to better understand their local water risks.
Enables more targeted public health actions. With annual analysis of where lead pipes are concentrated, state and local officials, as well as advocacy groups, will have better information to prioritize pipe replacement and remediation efforts in the areas most at risk.
Creates accountability for water suppliers and the state. The new reporting requirements ensure water suppliers must track and disclose their lead infrastructure, while the state health department must publicly analyze this data and recommend further actions, potentially spurring faster progress on lead remediation.
Supports future policy and funding decisions. By mandating recommendations from the health commissioner on regulatory or legislative actions, and by providing a robust database, the bill lays groundwork for data-driven decisions about funding, regulations, and public health interventions to reduce lead exposure.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Reveal Lead Water Pipes
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Recommit, enacting clause stricken
- Referred to health
- Referred to health
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
226
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sens. HOYLMAN, BROOKS, SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to information contained in the annual water supply statement
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 1151 of the public health law is amended by adding a new subdivision 9 to read as follows:
9. Information regarding the number, lengths, ages and locations of all the lead pipes located within the water system, as that term is defined in subdivision twenty-six of section two of the public service law.
§ 2. Section 1152-a of the public health law, as added by chapter 72 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1152-a. New York state public water supply report. The department, shall prepare an annual New York state public water supply report. Such report shall consist of a compilation and analysis of the information and data submitted by water suppliers pursuant to the provisions of this article, including but not limited to:
(a) data regarding the number, lengths, ages and locations of existing lead pipes within water systems;
(b) a database of all the information and data submitted by water suppliers pursuant to the provisions of this article that is open and accessible to the public, including in electronic form, and that shall be made available on the department's website;
(c) a map of the locations and geographic densities of lead pipes within the state's water systems;
(d) an analysis of the geographic variation of the data produced in the report;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05485-01-9
S. 226 2
(e) any recommendations that the commissioner finds necessary for regulatory or statutory means to address the public health implications of the report.
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to information contained in the annual water supply statement
Purpose or general idea of bill
Requires water works corporations to include in their annual water supply statement to customers information regarding the existence and location of lead pipes in their water system and requires the department of health to include such information in the annual New York state public water supply report.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one of the bill amends section 1151 of the public health law by adding a new subdivision 9.
Section two amends section 1152-a of the public health law, as added by chapter 72 of the laws of 1997.
Section three sets forth the effective date of the bill.
Justification
Lead is a known toxic that presents grave public health concerns, particularly in relation to drinking water. Although the 1986 amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) significantly limited the use of lead pipes, it did so primarily for new and not existing infras- tructure. While the SDWA requires water systems to treat water in order to decrease the chance of potential corrosion, such measures do not indefinitely prevent the leaching of lead from pipes into the water supply.
Much of the water infrastructure in New York State is aging and in desperate need of repair. Some pipes have not been replaced since they were first installed over a hundred years ago. Consequently, many lead pipes still exist in local water systems and present a very significant potential threat to human health. The ability to effectively and effi- ciently address these risks across the state is forestalled by a lack of centralized data collection. Although localities keep records of lead pipes in their drinking water infrastructure, such information is not compiled at the state level.
Water corporations in New York already provide an annual water supply statement to all of their customers. In addition, the department of health publishes an annual public water supply report. This bill would require that both the statement provided by water corporations and report published by the department include information on the number and location of lead pipes of the water system(s) they pertain to. It would further require the department to produce a database and map of the existing lead pipe infrastructure in New York that would be publically accessible.
Prior legislative history
S.0125 of 2017-2018 (Hoylman): Died in Health A.575 of 2017-2018 (Jaffee): Died in Health S.8187 of 2016 (Hoylman): Died in Rules
Fiscal implications
180th day.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.