Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3588) to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to exempt fire hydrants from the prohibition on the use of lead pipes, fittings, fixtures,…
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3588) to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to exempt fire hydrants from the prohibition on the use of lead pipes, fittings, fixtures, solder, and flux.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, many Members think that the suspension calendar is reserved for unimportant legislation. That is not the case today. It is reserved for bills that need no amendments and on which more than two- thirds of the House agrees. The Community Fire Safety Act of 2013 meets those two tests.
Sometimes when we budget our time, we ask ourselves, what should I work on first, the urgent or the important? H.R. 3588 is both urgent and important. It corrects a problem that first surfaced in October of this year, but which impacts all water utilities and firefighting units in the United States effective next month.
Water utilities have made it clear that they have two choices come January 4: fail to comply with Federal law, or leave gaps in critical fire hydrant service. No one should ever face that choice.
Here is the background. On January 4, 2011, the President signed into law the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act. This law prohibits the manufacturing and installation of pipes, fittings, and fixtures that have lead content of greater than two-tenths of 1 percent, but it exempts specific items, including tub fillers and shower valves. There is also a general exemption for pipes, fittings, and fixtures where the water is not anticipated to be consumed.
The effective date of the law is January 4, 2014, the beginning of next month. I am told that when Congress wrote this law in 2010 and the President signed it in 2011, the issue of fire hydrants never entered the conversation--nor did the EPA suggest that fire hydrants were covered, at least not until October of this year, 10 short weeks before the law takes effect.
On October 22, the EPA announced that because fire hydrants are occasionally, but rarely, used in the stream of human water consumption, they are not exempt under the act. This means any hydrant manufactured or installed 33 days from now must have a lead content that meets the statutory standard.
The EPA's conclusion was based on a technical reading of the statute. Because the rule's announcement takes effect in early January, the solution is this brief but important legislation.
The worry for water utilities and firefighters is that hydrants can break without warning, often as a result of vehicular accidents. Winter is a busy time for replacing hydrants due, in part, to freezing road conditions. But neither water utilities nor firefighters can tolerate hydrants that are not certified to meet strict performance parameters. Hydrants must never get stuck closed and should never leak.
Why do hydrants contain tiny amounts of lead in the brass alloys in their valves and other parts? Because that alloy gives a cleaner fit that doesn't leak and doesn't get stuck. Confidence that a hydrant meets this standard is crucial.
Mr. Speaker, even though a couple of manufacturers claim to have developed hydrants that can meet today's lead-free standard, none of them claims independent verification of the lead-free standard, much less proof that the extreme low-lead hydrant will work for fire safety. If such hydrants are developed and later certified, communities will certainly always be free to choose them. But in the meantime, the 2010 law is unforgiving.
It does not allow exemptions for even the least frequent and briefest exposures to water that may pass through a hydrant. Communities that never allow any human consumption from a hydrant will be barred from installing hydrants that today are in stock and ready to meet emergency repairs.
The risk to human health from lead in water is from long-term exposure. That is why there is no scientific data showing health effects from people drinking water from hydrants. But there are documented times when firefighters have arrived on the emergency scene only to find the hydrant is out of service. This leads to tragedy we can and must avoid.
If shower valves and tub fillers should be exempt--and they are-- let's exempt hydrants so there are no gaps in fire safety. I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 3588.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further Members who wish to speak on this issue. If my good friend is prepared to summarize, I am prepared to close.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I too want to say thanks to my good friend and colleague, Mr. Tonko, for his support of this legislation. It may seem trivial to some; but trust me, it is not trivial to the many communities who are sitting on stockpiles, literally millions of dollars worth of current hydrant technology that would have to be replaced as a result, and that money just going down the tubes. I, too, urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 3588.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
