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* Tribune…
More than two years after federal researchers found high levels of lead in homes where water mains had been replaced or new meters installed, city officials still do little to caution Chicagoans about potential health risks posed by work that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is speeding up across the city.
In a peer-reviewed study, researchers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found alarming levels of the brain-damaging metal can flow out of household faucets for years after construction work disrupts service lines that connect buildings to the city’s water system. Nearly 80 percent of the properties in Chicago are hooked up to service lines made of lead.
The study also found the city’s testing protocols — based on federal rules — are likely to miss high concentrations of lead in drinking water. […]
Most older cities, including Chicago, add corrosion-fighting chemicals to the water supply that form a protective coating inside pipes. Officials in Flint stopped the treatment in an ill-advised attempt to cut costs. The EPA study and other research shows the anti-corrosion treatment also can be thwarted when street work, plumbing repairs or changes in water chemistry disrupts the coating, causing alarming levels of lead to leach from service lines.
* And here’s the quote you need to remember…
“I am taking this opportunity to set the record straight,” Thomas Powers, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Water Management, wrote in a October 2013 letter to aldermen in response to Del Toral’s EPA study. “Chicago water is absolutely safe to drink and meets or exceeds all standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois EPA.”
* Related…
* Find your neighborhood: Lead poisoning trends across Chicago
* Could Chicago prevent childhood lead poisoning before it happens?
* Studies link childhood lead exposure, violent crime
* Trends in lead pollution and assault rates in Chicago
* Worrisome lead levels in Illinois children (data)
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:17 am
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Maintaining and upgrading infrastructure is not glamorous, but so important.
Comment by Earnest Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:28 am
Nice to see the Trib on a real story, rather than the usual “personality conflicts.”
Follow up, please.
And no spin from Emanuel allowed. Facts and figures, only.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:37 am
This could help the Mayor get money to add jobs via upgrading infrastructure and cover for all of the violence in the inner city “Studies link childhood lead exposure, violent crime”- June 6th 2015 story in the Trib…… Never let a crisis go to waste.
Comment by We Spin Story180 Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:42 am
When you add lead poisoning, to the problems of public school district it kinda makes one not very hopeful for the children of Chicago. Sad. This country is trending towards “developing” from “developed” status awful fast.
Comment by somalia Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:43 am
===Nice to see the Trib on a real story, rather than the usual “personality conflicts.”===
Hawthorne is the goods.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:45 am
Lead in the water is and example of why regulations, especially environmental regulations, are sometimes necessary. This is what can happen when politicians blithely say, “we must get rid of burdensome regulations.” That’s not to say all regulations are needed, but they must be considered on a case by case basis.
Comment by Sir Reel Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:49 am
My understanding was that lead service pipes from street to the house are privately owned, that the corrosion forms naturally on the inside surface and prevents leaching of lead, but that new additives used in Flint damaged the protective layer. Saying the City water is safe to drink could mean as it comes out of the publicly owned pipes in the street. Power’s statement needs clarification.
Comment by peanut Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 9:49 am
I actually think the city does a good job when it comes to being aggressive on reports of lead in apartments. One problem is there’s a big loophole that allows landlords to remain silent to prospective renters when lead is found in other units in a building but not (yet) in the one they’re renting.
The more attention that can be put on the water/construction issue, the better (though it’s tragic it took Flint to heighten awareness).
Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 10:32 am
Peanut - The problem in Flint was that they DIDN’T add the chemical. The city made a financial decision to save $100/day and not use the additive to build the protective layer inside the lead pipes.
Comment by Huh? Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 10:45 am
Peanut
Your correct that the lines from the meter to the residence are the owners responsibility. In Flint ortho-phosphate was needed to line the pipe with scale which prevents the water from coming in contact with the lead pipes. The problem is repair work often disrupts the scale which then takes time to reestablish. The Illinois epa maintains a website where you can see all the mandatory testing for any water supply in il Google “drinking water watch Illinois. “
Comment by Mason born Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 10:56 am
I should have said the problem elsewhere is repair. Flint was a total breakdown of the system at every level from politicians to the local operator.
Comment by Mason born Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 10:58 am
“The study also found the city’s testing protocols — based on federal rules — are likely to miss high concentrations of lead in drinking water. […]”
Rich, has the federal rules on harmful environmental toxins testing standards changed within the pass few years?
Comment by Mama Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 12:28 pm
Lead in the water is only one example of why federal regulations, especially environmental regulations, are always necessary. Anything people consume or breathe that could harm ones health and mental well-being should be tested at least annually.
Comment by Mama Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 12:31 pm
Mason- you are right, but it was the addition of high amounts of acid added to treat dirty water that damaged the old inner corrosion on the lead pipes. They should have added the other additive to negate the damage that occurred.
Comment by peanut Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 6:17 pm
Nice coverage by the Trib.
Given Chicago’s finances you’d expect them to do the minimum required. This seems like a national issue with many cities affected.
Comment by Anon Monday, Feb 8, 16 @ 8:53 pm