Kickstart: A White House push for pipe replacements

The federal government is calling for a major investment in new water systems nationwide, one that may prompt more spending on plastic pipes.

The White House announced a final rule on Oct. 8 requiring all water systems across the U.S. to identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years. The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements also will require more testing to identify sites where lead can seep into public water systems.

The Environmental Protection Agency also announced another $2.6 billion in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help finance local projects. The money will be funneled to local projects via state agencies.

Lead water lines have been the focus of infrastructure improvements since the city of Flint, Mich., discovered lead particles were at high levels in its drinking water in 2014. Lead once was popular for water systems because it was inexpensive and not as brittle as other metals. But over time, coatings failed, and lead began showing up in homes, schools and businesses.

EPA estimates some 9 million homes have legacy lead pipes. The funding — along with a 10-year deadline — is intended to speed replacement.

"A game-changer for kids and communities, EPA's finalized Lead and Copper Rule Improvements will ensure that we will never again see the preventable tragedy of a city, or a child, poisoned by their lead pipes," said Mona Hanna, a Flint pediatrician and associate dean for public health at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine.

The new rules do not specify what material communities should use. Some environmental groups lobbied hard in the past few years to force a limit on PVC, high density polyethylene and other plastics. Industry groups such as the Plastics Pipe Institute stressed plastics has been used successfully for more than 60 years.

Sustainability is coming to your local lakes and rivers.

Plastics News' Sarah Kominek writes about a new study published recently that checks for the potential for phthalates to leach from soft fishing lures, typically made of PVC.

"Per day, [anglers] lose about one of those lures," Markus Brinkmann, a co-author of the paper and the director of the Toxicology Centre at University of Saskatchewan, said. "That's quite a bit if you look at how common recreational angling is now."

Ten of the 16 soft plastic lures studied by researchers in Canada and Germany leached compounds into surrounding water.

Additional research could lead to a demand for other material options in fishing lures, Brinkmannn said.

The Wine Society, a United Kingdom-based wine club that calls itself the "world's oldest member-owned community of wine lovers," has turned to recycled PET for some of its bottles.

The society says it will offer white wines in a rectangular bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET, with material sourced from "ocean-bound plastics." PET bottles are 63 grams vs. 453 grams for glass bottles, the society says on its website.

The project could be a big boon for PET wine bottles, first introduced in 2020. The Wine Society says it will feature PET bottles "only on wines that are meant to be drunk young."