Posted on Jun 20, 2022
‘Time bomb’ lead pipes set to be removed. But first water utilities have to find them
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Water utilities have never been required to thoroughly inventory lead pipes except in a crisis. Health experts warn problems with these “underground poisonous straws” can arise out of the blue.
It took three years for officials to notice lead was seeping into the city’s drinking water.
Missouri regulators had given the green light in 2014 for Trenton to start adding monochloramine to its drinking water to disinfect it without the harmful byproducts of chlorine.
But by 2017, the city noticed something alarming.
Lead levels in drinking water in the northwest Missouri town — population 5,609 — had spiked.
Over the next two years, one-quarter of the homes tested exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level — 15 parts per billion — at least once.
It took three years for officials to notice lead was seeping into the city’s drinking water.
Missouri regulators had given the green light in 2014 for Trenton to start adding monochloramine to its drinking water to disinfect it without the harmful byproducts of chlorine.
But by 2017, the city noticed something alarming.
Lead levels in drinking water in the northwest Missouri town — population 5,609 — had spiked.
Over the next two years, one-quarter of the homes tested exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level — 15 parts per billion — at least once.
‘Time bomb’ lead pipes set to be removed. But first water utilities have to find them
Posted from kcur.org
Water
Hazmat
Trenton
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."'Underground poisonous straws'
Tallying the toll of lead-contaminated water on a community is difficult, said Bruce Lanphear, a lead researcher and professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
At levels like those measured in Trenton, the impact isn’t immediately obvious.
“Because people don't keel over immediately, we don't treat it as an urgent problem,” Lanphear said.
At a population level, he said, a pregnant woman being exposed to high levels of lead might increase the chance of a pre-term birth or miscarriage.
“But for preterm birth, we don’t see lead. We just say it just happens,” Lanphear said. “So, that’s the dilemma is that it’s insidious.”
Beyond that, Edwards said screening programs aren’t designed to target children who are most at risk of exposure to lead-contaminated water.
Monitoring programs typically target toddlers, who are at risk of exposure to lead paint because they’re crawling and putting things in their mouth. But fetuses and infants using formula are at the greatest risk when it comes to lead in water.
Edwards said health departments are prone to assuming the water is not a risk because the utility should be monitoring for lead.
“And so no one is testing the age group most likely to show the health harm,” he said.
Lanphear said it’s frustrating, but not surprising, that state governments don’t have a handle on where the lead pipes remain.
“We really, in so many ways, ignored the most basic public health infrastructure,” Lanphear said, while emphasizing expensive cures and profitable technological advancements.
“We've neglected things that are basic to health, like clean water, clean air, food that's not contaminated by lead and other chemicals.”
Situations like that in Trenton, Hanna-Attisha said, are a wakeup call that “we fail to listen to science, that we fail to protect children.” She said it’s a reminder that the Biden administration’s infrastructure package is important to find these “underground poisonous straws.”
“We continue to dull the potential of so many children by not addressing this issue,” she said."...
..."'Underground poisonous straws'
Tallying the toll of lead-contaminated water on a community is difficult, said Bruce Lanphear, a lead researcher and professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
At levels like those measured in Trenton, the impact isn’t immediately obvious.
“Because people don't keel over immediately, we don't treat it as an urgent problem,” Lanphear said.
At a population level, he said, a pregnant woman being exposed to high levels of lead might increase the chance of a pre-term birth or miscarriage.
“But for preterm birth, we don’t see lead. We just say it just happens,” Lanphear said. “So, that’s the dilemma is that it’s insidious.”
Beyond that, Edwards said screening programs aren’t designed to target children who are most at risk of exposure to lead-contaminated water.
Monitoring programs typically target toddlers, who are at risk of exposure to lead paint because they’re crawling and putting things in their mouth. But fetuses and infants using formula are at the greatest risk when it comes to lead in water.
Edwards said health departments are prone to assuming the water is not a risk because the utility should be monitoring for lead.
“And so no one is testing the age group most likely to show the health harm,” he said.
Lanphear said it’s frustrating, but not surprising, that state governments don’t have a handle on where the lead pipes remain.
“We really, in so many ways, ignored the most basic public health infrastructure,” Lanphear said, while emphasizing expensive cures and profitable technological advancements.
“We've neglected things that are basic to health, like clean water, clean air, food that's not contaminated by lead and other chemicals.”
Situations like that in Trenton, Hanna-Attisha said, are a wakeup call that “we fail to listen to science, that we fail to protect children.” She said it’s a reminder that the Biden administration’s infrastructure package is important to find these “underground poisonous straws.”
“We continue to dull the potential of so many children by not addressing this issue,” she said."...
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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We bought an older house. Had water checked for lead. Our city water is very good.
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