In the United States some medical experts are estimating that more than 24 million American kids will have their development affected as a result of lead exposure. This lead exposure may come from several sources including in their drinking water in their homes and schools. According to a report in USA Today by Laura Ungar, this is a problem in hundreds of schools and daycares across the county.

What can we do about this issue? Is it really a problem? The answer to the second question is easy. The answer is yes, it is a problem. The answer to the first question is much more difficult. The first step to solving the problem is to admit the problems exists. That in itself is an issue in many areas where public officials seem to think if they ignore or deny the problem exists it will go away. One needs only to look at Flint, Michigan to see what happens when no one accepts that problems exist. Even when the situation becomes public, no one is held responsible for the situation.

Is it a real problem? Too much lead can damage various systems of the body. Lead is especially harmful to the developing brains of fetuses, and to young children and pregnant women. High blood lead levels in children can cause consequences which may be irreversible, including learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and mental retardation. At very high levels, lead can cause convulsions, coma and even death. This problem needs to be addressed. Any amount of lead in our drinking water is an issue that needs to be considered and steps taken to minimize any exposure.

The problem did not begin or end in Flint. Currently a number of areas are experiencing problems. One of the largest is Newark, New Jersey. In June 2017, citywide tests showed that more than 10% of homes across Newark had twice the amount of lead considered safe according to federal law. After the city failed two more citywide lead tests in December 2017 and June 2018, the city announced in October that year that it would provide over 40,000 water filters to residents. The city then failed another lead test in December 2018, bringing the number to three consecutive failures. At that time, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka wrote a letter to President Trump asking for federal assistance with the problem. The city failed another test in June 2019. Additionally, tests over the following months of homes that had filters installed to correct the lead problem concluded that a number of these homes still had unacceptable lead levels.

The crisis is the result of years of mismanagement and has forced city officials to warn tens of thousands of residents against drinking tap water for fear of lead poisoning. Newark has been struggling to curb elevated levels of lead in its drinking water supply for years. The city’s Board of Education has consistently found elevated lead levels in water at city schools since the 2010 school year. The board responded by turning off or fixing fountains found to have elevated lead levels and installing new “lead-free” water lines and fixtures. But the problems have persisted.

City and state officials are working to correct the problems. City officials have begun handing out packages of bottled water to Newark residents, in accordance with guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to Mayor Baraka the city’s top priority is the health and welfare of all Newark residents, particularly the very young, pregnant women, and the elderly. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has also reported that the city will be expanding its testing of the filters provided to residents, in order to better determine the scope of the crisis.

“Access to clean and safe drinking water is a fundamental right,” Governor Murphy stated. He also made it clear that the city needs assistance from the federal level. However, the city and state are not waiting for the federal government to get involved. In February of this year, Newark began to work on its multi-year plan with the goal of removing all lead pipes from the water system and replacing them with copper pipes. The city also installed a new corrosion control treatment system in May to reduce the lead levels. These actions will certainly help but it will take years and millions of dollars to ensure the problem is eradicated. But at least action in taking place in Newark.

As I said in the beginning of the article, it is important to admit that a problem exists. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend that either the lead in the water is not an issue or that the problem will somehow cure itself. We removed the lead from paint, we removed the lead from gasoline, we need to reduce the lead content in water to as low an amount as possible. It is more than Flint and Newark. It is Detroit and Philadelphia, it is Milwaukee and Newburgh, and the list goes on and on. Governments on every level, from the federal to local authorities, need to commit the manpower and the necessary funding to test our water systems. They need to test residents, especially children, to monitor their lead levels and their exposure to harmful substances in our water and in our environment. We also need to hold people responsible for their actions, and in too many places, their inaction.

Existing buildings need to also test their water to see if there are elevated lead levels or other issues with the water quality. Many buildings contain copper tubing soldered with 50/50 solder which contained 50% lead and 50% tin. The systems installed before the 1986 changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act prohibited the use of solder containing more than 2% lead may also leach lead into the drinking water.

Public buildings including schools, nursing homes, hospitals, hotels, and many other facilities contain older piping systems, oversize piping, and dead legs that can be a recipe for disaster. Lead is not the only concern. Legionella is another major concern. If chloride levels are not maintained, then giardia or other bacteria can become problems for the health of consumers and the general public.

The installation of the proper filtration systems can provide cleaner water and remove lead and other impurities. The installation of these systems in Flint, Milwaukee, Newark and Detroit have helped provide safe water. The use of bottled water has also proved to work in the short term. In the long term it will take a much larger effort to fix the problem on a more permanent basis. Even in our nation’s capital, Washington DC, they have had issues with lead since the early 2000’s. In 2016 it was estimated that around 12,000 water customers were still getting their water from lead pipes. Many of the facilities at risk of contamination are located in older, less affluent neighborhoods. If the problems exist in our capital city and are not being addressed in a meaningful way, can we really expect the federal government to solve this problem on its own?

The existing lead water service pipes are being replaced at an average rate of 0.5 percent a year. That means it will take roughly two centuries to renew the whole system at a cost of around 1 trillion dollars, according to one estimate from the American Water Works Association. It 2016 CNN reported that more than 5,000 U.S. water systems serving roughly 18 million people violated EPA rules for lead in water. When was the last time you heard the President or anyone in Congress speak to the public about this issue in any meaningful way? The US EPA seems to be more focused on deregulation than in enforcing or creating new regulations to get the lead out of our drinking water systems. The EPA needs to do much more on this front.

It will take an effort from everyone to fix these problems. Replacing lead water services is an expensive, time-consuming effort but it is a necessary one and truth be told something that should have been completed many years ago. The regular testing of the water both in the mains and to the last free flowing tap is also something that needs to happen. The industry is developing new filtration technology to remove impurities from our water. The usage of point of use filters that are correctly sized is another way to protect water consumers on existing water systems. Flushing the faucets will also help lower lead levels. We need to look at this problem from the source to the tap. We can live without many things, but clean safe drinking water is not one of them. We need to fix this before more children are affect by lead and pay the price of our inaction for the rest of their lives.

About the Author

Sean is a 40 year member of the United Association Local 524 Scranton Pa. He has worked in all phases of the plumbing and mechanical industry and is a licensed master plumber. Sean is a Past President of the American Society of Sanitary Engineering. Sean is also the member of the ASSE Cross-Connection Control, Technical Committee. Sean is employed by IAPMO as the Vice President of Operations for the IAPMO Backflow Prevention Institute.