Minnesota

The 2017 Minnesota Legislature directed the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to “conduct an analysis to determine the scope of the lead problem in Minnesota’s water and the cost to eliminate lead exposure in drinking water.”

The Minnesota Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (MCLPPP) supported the MDH Drinking Water Protection Program in creating this report, titled “Lead in Minnesota Water: Assessment of Eliminating Lead in Minnesota Drinking Water.” In addition to determining the costs of removing lead sources from drinking water, MCLPPP used Minnesota’s childhood blood lead surveillance data to estimate the benefits of removing lead from water. These potential benefits include improvements in population mental acuity and IQ, and the resulting increases in lifetime productivity, earnings, and taxes paid.

The report, released in February 2019, provided an opportunity to discuss the benefits of removing lead from drinking water and to remind audiences that most cases of elevated blood lead levels in Minnesota occur because of deteriorated lead-based paint in older homes. Several outreach activities occurred in conjunction with the release of the report. MCLPPP and the Drinking Water Protection Program presented information about lead and the report’s findings to the Clean Water Council, which is an advisory body to the State Legislature and Governor. Additionally, an educational Brown Bag session, sponsored by the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment fund, was held at the MDH Offices as part of the Clean Water Brownbag series.

The report estimates the cost of removing the two most significant sources of lead in water, lead service lines and leaded plumbing fixtures, to be between $1.52 billion and $4.12 billion over 20 years. The projected range of benefits is between $4.24 billion and $8.47 billion over 20 years, although there are several reasons to believe the report may have underestimated these benefits. Therefore, the report concludes that resources allocated to reducing lead in drinking water would be expected to yield a return on investment of at least 100%.

A press conference was held when the report was released, resulting in coverage by several local news stations and a blog written by the Environmental Defense Fund. It is expected that this report will be used by policymakers when considering proposals for strategies to reduce lead in drinking water and other sources.