President Biden’s visit to Wilmington to discuss lead pipes will be livestreamed on WWAY

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — President Joe Biden is traveling to Wilmington to announce $3 billion in funding to replace toxic lead pipes, building on $5.8 billion in federal funds for water infrastructure projects around the country announced in February.

The EPA estimates North Carolina has an estimated 300,000 lead pipes. While in Wilmington, Biden will announce $76 million from his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help replace those pipes across the state.

Locally, Wilmington has already received $4 million to identify and replace 325 pipes. Cape Fear Public Utility Authority says those are galvanized pipes, some of which may have had a lead gooseneck connector.

The White House says the president will announce that lead pipe replacement in Wilmington is now underway, which CFPUA confirms they have already replaced several galvanized lines.

The President will also meet with faculty and students from a Wilmington school that replaced a water fountain with high levels of lead with funding from the American Rescue Plan.

WWAY will livestream President Biden’s remarks this afternoon here. 

Before President Biden comes to Wilmington, he is detouring to Charlotte to meet with the families of law enforcement officers shot to death on the job — just a week after he sat down with the grieving relatives of two cops killed in Upstate New York.