[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3874 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3874

 To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reduce lead in drinking water.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 29, 2010

  Mrs. Boxer (for herself, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Cardin, 
Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Sanders) introduced the following bill; which 
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 
                                 Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reduce lead in drinking water.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REDUCING LEAD IN DRINKING WATER.

    (a) In General.--Section 1417 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 
U.S.C. 300g-6) is amended--
            (1) by adding at the end of subsection (a) the following:
            ``(4) Exemptions.--The prohibitions in paragraphs (1) and 
        (3) shall not apply to--
                    ``(A) pipes, pipe fittings, plumbing fittings, or 
                fixtures, including backflow preventers, that are used 
                exclusively for nonpotable services such as 
                manufacturing, industrial processing, irrigation, 
                outdoor watering, or any other uses where the water is 
                not anticipated to be used for human consumption; or
                    ``(B) toilets, bidets, urinals, fill valves, 
                flushometer valves, tub fillers, shower valves, service 
                saddles, or water distribution main gate valves that 
                are 2 inches in diameter or larger.''; and
            (2) by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:
    ``(d) Definition of Lead Free.--
            ``(1) In general.--For the purposes of this section, the 
        term `lead free' means--
                    ``(A) not containing more than 0.2 percent lead 
                when used with respect to solder and flux; and
                    ``(B) not more than a weighted average of 0.25 
                percent lead when used with respect to the wetted 
                surfaces of pipes, pipe fittings, plumbing fittings, 
                and fixtures.
            ``(2) Calculation.--The weighted average lead content of a 
        pipe, pipe fitting, plumbing fitting, or fixture shall be 
        calculated by using the following formula: For each wetted 
        component, the percentage of lead in the component shall be 
        multiplied by the ratio of the wetted surface area of that 
        component to the total wetted surface area of the entire 
        product to arrive at the weighted percentage of lead of the 
        component. The weighted percentage of lead of each wetted 
        component shall be added together, and the sum of these 
        weighted percentages shall constitute the weighted average lead 
        content of the product. The lead content of the material used 
        to produce wetted components shall be used to determine 
        compliance with paragraph (1)(B). For lead content of materials 
        that are provided as a range, the maximum content of the range 
        shall be used.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The provisions of subsections (a)(4) and (d) 
of section 1417 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, as added by this 
section, apply beginning on the day that is 36 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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