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The Environmental Protection Agency’s top water regulator said Wednesday that officials are working urgently to strengthen a federal rule limiting lead and copper in drinking water — a key focus in the ongoing lead-contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan. But Joel Beauvais, acting chief of the EPA’s water office, said proposed changes will not be released until next year, with a final rule expected months after that. (Daly, 4/13)

Chicago's North Broadway Street is always bustling, but in the past few weeks, it has been noisier than ever. There is water flowing from an open fire hydrant, and as traffic inches by, a cement truck backs up and pours concrete down into a big hole in the street. ... It's part of the city's sweeping plan to update and replace miles of the city's aging water lines that was announced four years ago. But while there has been praise about the long overdue new infrastructure, there has also been criticism — and a lawsuit from residents who say the city's work is causing unsafe lead levels in the city's drinking water. (Corley, 4/14)

Department of Environmental Services will expand their testing radius for PFOA, a contaminant found in drinking water near the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant in Merrimack. The Department is now testing all drinking-water wells within a mile and a half radius of the plant: that’s a half-mile more than the department had been testing. The expanded radius includes Londonderry and Manchester, in addition to Merrimack, Bedford, and Litchfield. (Corwin, 4/14)