About
The LFC Toolkit is a resource to support communities of all sizes and varieties in lead hazard elimination. Washington, DC demonstrates practical applications of the strategies, tools, and resources outlined in the Toolkit.
Community Story
DC Water set an ambitious goal to replace an estimated 42,000 lead service lines in their jurisdiction. They committed to do so through an equitable process aligned with the Biden Administration's Justice 40 Initiative, ensuring that benefits flow to communities that are marginalized, underserved, or overburdened by pollution.
Inventorying Lead Service Lines
DC Water's first step was to systematically evaluate its historic Service Line Material Inventory and improve its accuracy. In the early 2000s, DC Water established a policy of identifying and documenting service line materials when other municipal construction projects provided the opportunity to do so. When implementing this policy, DC Water found many inaccuracies in its historic data that needed to be addressed. As inaccuracies have been discovered, DC Water updates the inventory to reflect the newly gathered data and indicated the degree of certainty regarding each service line's materials. Data from the updated inventory were used to create a publicly accessible Service Line Inventory map, which allows any DC resident to look up the service line material for their address.
Developing a Prioritization Model
The updated Service Line Material Inventory is now being used to determine where to allocate the limited resources available for lead service line removal. DC Water's Block by Block program focuses on city blocks where a majority of service lines need replacement. DC Water developed a prioritization model for the Block by Block program that incorporates a number of factors indicating the severity of the potential health impacts residents may experience from lead exposure. The model prioritizes lead service line replacements on blocks with a higher density of suspected lead service lines. It also considers a block's median household income, percentage of Black/African American population, proportion of children under five years old, and blood lead levels to determine how severe the impacts of lead exposure could be in that area.
Key steps taken:
- Inventoried lead service lines in the community and assessed where they are most prevalent.
- Analyzed the accuracy of existing datasets on lead exposure and update or supplement it with new, verified information.
- Developed a transparent prioritization model that incorporates data on lead exposure and information on environmental health inequity in your community.
- Applied the prioritization model to determine the sequence of your lead hazard elimination efforts.