Federal legislation that would have drastically reduced the amount of lead in common plumbing products from 8% to 0.2% was sidetracked by some quick lobbying efforts of the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute (PMI).

Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) introduced the Lead-Free Drinking Water Act on June 29, and by July 20, the bill's lead provisions that affected plumbing products were effectively halted, replaced by a bipartisan amendment to a larger Senate water infrastructure funding bill.

Part of the amendment includes calling for a study on plumbing products with input from PMI.

"We try not to be adversarial,"