Last week, eight drinking water and municipal sector organizations wrote to Sen. Michal Bennet (D-Colo.) in support of his anticipated introduction of legislation to make it easier for water systems to finance full lead service line replacements with tax-exempt bonds.

Sen. Bennet’s Financing Lead Out of Water (FLOW Act) is expected to mirror a House bill of the same name that was introduced in March with similar support from prominent industry organizations including the American Water Works Association and Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA).

The letter explains how the task of fully replacing a lead service line is often complicated by the fact that ownership is split between the utility and individual homeowners. But when an AMWA member attempted to fully replace public and privately owned lead service lines, and pay for the project with tax exempt bonds, it had to navigate IRS rules that required documentation of how many private businesses operated out of homes where a private lead service line was to be replaced.