New York water system operators are getting a $129.2 million in grants from the Environmental Protection Agency to replace lead service lines in their networks.

On Thursday, Sen. Chuck Schumer announced the grants as a part of a more than $15 billion program that he says will go a long way to making tap water safer for New Yorkers.

“Now, thanks to my Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Law, a major $129 million is flowing to replace potentially toxic lead pipes across the state,” he said in a statement. “No amount of toxic lead exposure is safe for our children, which is why I led the charge in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to deliver the funding to get the lead out.”

All water operators in New York are required under state law to develop an inventory of service lines by Oct. 16.

Last year, the EPA issued grants to local water operators, mostly cities, to inventory their lead service lines and start the process of removing those pipes.

The city of Ogdensburg authorized its lead service line inventory in July, and the village of Potsdam started its inventory in April last year.

In February, the village of Canton asked residents to check the service lines leading to their water meters and identify if they have a lead pipe supplying their water.

The city of Watertown has been working to remove lead service lines from its water system since 2017, funded by a state program, and expects to complete a system-wide inventory by September.

The federal government under President Joe Biden has made significant investments in removing lead pipes from the nation’s water systems. The relatively soft metal was used extensively post-Civil War, and by 1900 more than 70% of the country’s densest cities were using lead service lines to deliver water to their customers, according to Stanford University.

Lead pipes were also frequently used for in-home water lines, but federal money has not been widely circulated to replace those lines, which are the homeowners’ responsibility after the water meter.

The pipes can leach lead into the water they carry to customers, especially if that water is slightly acidic or basic. Health experts including officials with the EPA warn that there is no safe level of lead when measured in a child’s blood, and childhood or fetal lead exposure can lead to significant health problems and cognitive impairments. The EPA reports that even low levels of childhood lead exposure can lead to permanent damage to the nervous system, learning disabilities, shortened stature, hearing loss and malformed blood cells.

In adults, exposure to large amounts of lead can lead to cardiovascular illness, loss of kidney function and reproductive problems.

“The science is clear, there is no safe level of lead exposure, and the primary source of harmful exposure in drinking water is through lead pipes,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement announcing the New York grants. “President Biden understands it is critical to identify and remove lead pipes as quickly as possible, and he has secured significant resources for states and territories to accelerate the permanent removal of dangerous lead pipes once and for all.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Law passed in 2021, largely along party lines. Both Reps. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, and Claudia L. Tenney, R-Cleveland, voted against the measure. A handful of New York’s Republican delegation representing Long Island, the Hudson Valley and Syracuse voted in support of it.