Balanced News: The Lead-Free Water Pledge: Steps Towards a Future of Lead-Free Drinking Water

The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, along with partners including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, launched the “Global Pledge to Protect Drinking Water from Lead” at the UN Water Conference in March 2023. The pledge aims to eliminate lead from all drinking water supplies by 2040, and begins by outlining steps to phase out lead-leaching materials for new drinking water systems by 2030. Exposure to lead is responsible for an estimated 0.9 million deaths per year globally, with one in three children worldwide having elevated blood lead levels.