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With federal help, states and cities might move faster. One concern is regulation. The EPA last updated its Lead and Copper Rule, setting out how fast lead pipes should be replaced, in 1991. It requires 7% of them in a given site to be swapped out yearly, though this has evidently not been enforced. An amendment the EPA sent to the White House in July, which is still awaiting Donald Trump’s signature, would relax that to 3% a year. (It would also tighten rules to speed replacement in schools.) Mr Olson calls the proposed change “appalling”.
在聯(lián)邦政府的幫助下，各州和各城市的行動可能會加快。其中的一個問題是監(jiān)管問題。美國環(huán)境保護局最近一次更新鉛和銅的規(guī)定是在1991年，規(guī)定了鉛水管的更換速度。它要求給定的場所每年更換7%的鉛水管，盡管顯然沒有強制執(zhí)行該規(guī)定。美國環(huán)境保護局7月送交白宮的一份修正案仍在等待唐納德·特朗普的簽署，該修正案將鉛水管的更換速度放寬至每年3%。（它還將收緊規(guī)定，加快學校的鉛水管更替速度。）奧爾森稱提議的改革“駭人聽聞”。
Cities want to make changes, but swapping out 10m service lines could cost $50bn, says Mr Olson (it is cheaper to do it in bulk). Twice this summer the Democrat-run House of Representatives passed bills to start paying for it—first a $22.5bn authorisation, then an appropriations bill that set aside $1bn for this fiscal year. Proposed infrastructure bills also include sums for removing lead pipes. But in the Senate such plans have, so far, led nowhere.
奧爾森表示，城市希望做出改變，但更換1000萬條服務(wù)線路可能需要500億美元（批量更換成本更低）。今年夏天，民主黨管理下的眾議院兩次通過法案，開始為其買單，首先是225億美元的授權(quán)，然后是為本財年劃撥10億美元的撥款法案。擬議的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施法案還包括拆除鉛水管的費用。但到目前為止，此類計劃在參議院毫無進展。
Joe Biden’s administration could nudge things on. The EPA may set higher standards again and might order overdue public hearings on the topic, perhaps in badly afflicted cities like Flint. A bill co-sponsored by a Republican congressman from New Jersey, Chris Smith, would require all lead pipes to be replaced within a decade. His timetable may look too ambitious, but waiting for 500 more years to fix the problem isn’t much of a plan, either.
喬·拜登政府可以推動事態(tài)發(fā)展。美國環(huán)境保護局可能會再次制定更高的標準，并可能會下令就這一問題舉行早應(yīng)完成的的聽證會，也許會在弗林特這樣的飽受摧殘的城市舉行。新澤西州共和黨國會議員克里斯·史密斯聯(lián)合發(fā)起的一項法案將要求在10年內(nèi)更換所有鉛水管。他的時間安排看起來過于艱巨，但再等500年來解決這個問題也算不上是什么計劃。
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