Equity as Afterthought: Lead Service Line Replacement in Pittsburgh,PA

Abstract

Lead (Pb) contaminated water remains a persistent problem in U.S. cities, disproportionately harming low-income households and communities of color. Although federal initiatives like Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) mandate the replacement of all lead service lines by 2037, equitable implementation of these policies hinges on how cities use discretion in prioritizing and sequencing replacement projects. In this study, we use data obtained through right-to-know requests to address the question: How and to what extent did Pittsburgh’s lead service line replacement (LSLR) program demonstrate equitable implementation? Using quantitative and spatial techniques, we show that Pittsburgh census tracts with greater percentages of low-income individuals, higher percentages of children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL), and higher percentages of non-white people, were initially not prioritized relative to more affluent areas of the city. These early years of the program (2016–2018) reveal the consequences of equity as an afterthought: the most vulnerable areas of the city waited for replacements while whiter, wealthier areas were served first. Yet, as we observe, these patterns meaningfully shift post-2019 suggesting that advocacy through bodies like the Citizen Lead Response Advisory Committee (CLRAC) and the Pittsburgh Water Equity Task Force may redirect programs toward their stated equity goals. We end with a call for greater scrutiny and study of LSLR programs nationally to ensure that groups most historically affected by lead exposure are prioritized from the beginning of the process in every locale.