Lead service lines replaced

Why this row

EPA estimates that 4.0 million lead service lines remain in the ground, and its 2024 rule requires water systems to replace them within ten years. The row holds the rule to its own pace, 0.4 million lines a year. It is binding on EPA and the water systems because the deadline is theirs by statute. The rule's clock and the plan's start year still need reconciling before adoption, and lines of unknown material are counted separately until identified.

The path

0.4 million a year, the pace EPA's ten-year rule requires; the rule's clock and the plan's start year need reconciling before adoption

Each July 4 the row shows its baseline, this path, the latest official value and a status of ahead, on schedule or behind. As a binding row it also links the decisions by EPA and the water systems that moved the number during the year.