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In July 2018, tests showed that the drinking water supply to Yvette Jordan’s home in Newark, New Jersey contained nearly 45 parts per billion (ppb) of lead, three times the level of lead. US Environmental Protection Agency action for the neurotoxic heavy metal.
It was a similar story for many families across his city. A lead crisis had hit Newark, and it was drawing comparisons to the contaminated water that devastated Flint, Michigan, years earlier.
Still, what happened next in Newark – for the most part, anyway – should serve as a “national model,” said Jordan, who is a high school history teacher.
In the United States, 6-10m of old lead pipe still connects homes to local water supplies. As these underground lines age and corrode, more people are exposed to lead, including young children who are particularly vulnerable to metal impacts.
A Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report estimates that between January 2015 and March 2018, at least 5.5 million Americans received water contaminated with lead levels exceeding the action level of 15 ppb of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Other research shows that low-income and minority communities are disproportionately affected. In addition to lowering this level of action – and making it more applicable – public health experts are calling for the widespread replacement of all these pipes.
The Biden administration received praise when it unveiled in March the goal of replacing 100% of the country’s main service lines, and it insists this is still achievable as talks with Republicans continue. on infrastructure legislation.
Newark has shown that this doesn’t have to be a pipe dream.
“We’ve known how to do this for decades. It’s not like treating PFAS or any of those multisyllabic chemicals, ”said Daniel Van Abs, water use expert at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
“We know what the problem is, we know what the health effects are, we know how to deal with it,” he added. “It really is a question of political will.”
Since the start of 2019, Newark residents have seen workers dig and swap thousands of lead pipes that have long connected their homes to the city’s water main. Jordan saw his replaced last spring. By spring, local authorities had removed more than 20,000 lead service lines. That’s an impressive feat, especially since recently updated federal regulations allow 33-year-old cities to accomplish the same task.
“We have shown that it is possible,” said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. “And it can be done quite quickly. “
Newark Moves Toward Early Completion of Lead Water Service Line Replacement, a Achievement Federal Authorities Call Outstanding https://t.co/gX16xlYpxk
– City of Newark (@CityofNewarkNJ) May 4, 2021
Joe Biden announced a goal of eradicating all remaining lead water pipes in the country as part of his administration’s $ 2 billion US jobs plan, which would have allocated $ 111 billion to improve hydraulic infrastructure, including $ 45 billion for the replacement of lead pipes.
Hopes for such a level of overall investment in water infrastructure have faded, with an initial framework for a bipartisan infrastructure deal released last month outlining $ 55 billion for water infrastructure, in part coming from public partnerships. -private.
However, as bipartisan talks on infrastructure legislation continue, the Biden administration still insists that plans to replace 100% of lead lines remain alive and this is an area where Democrats and Republicans agree.
No security level
The threat of lead in drinking water in the United States has attracted attention in the wake of the Flint water crisis. In January, in Michigan, eight former state officials and a now suspended employee were charged with criminal charges for their role in this environmental disaster, triggered by a change in the city’s water source from the water department and from the Detroit sewers to the Flint River. Due, in part, to the failure of local authorities to use corrosion control measures, lead and other pollutants have seeped from pipes into residents’ drinking water.
Lead pipes are not the only source of lead in drinking water. Heavy metal can enter the water through corrosion of brass or lead bronze faucets and fittings. Joe Cotruvo, Washington DC-based environmental and public health consultant and formerly of the EPA’s Office of Drinking Water, notes that even the surface of old galvanized iron pipes can build up lead in the water.
This is one of the reasons why lead can still be a significant concern for the roughly 15% of Americans who depend on private wells for their water.
No safe lead level has been identified by national or global health agencies.
Exposure to lead can cause heart, kidney and reproductive problems in adults. But young children face the greatest risks. Low dose exposures have been linked to hyperactivity, slower growth and lower IQ. And, across a population, lead exposure can represent a much needed investment in special education and medical resources, as well as significant declines in economic productivity.
Rachel DeWitt, medical assistant at St Joseph’s Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan, said that in the case of a city like Flint or Newark, lead exposure imposes “a significant tax on a community that doesn’t did not have a lot of resources. to begin with. ”Indeed, racial disparities in childhood lead poisoning are stark: 5.6% of black children have blood lead levels above the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) limit of action. 5 micrograms per liter versus 2.4% of white children.
Recognizing the many health risks, Congress banned the use of lead water pipes in 1986.
Take out the lead
Kareem Adeem was born and raised in Newark. In 1991, the city hired him to fill the potholes. Over the following decades, Adeem rose through the ranks and, despite his lack of a college degree, was promoted to Acting Director of the Newark Water and Sewer Utilities Department in 2018. At that time, the The city’s water problems had come to a head.
In March 2016, elevated levels of lead were detected in the drinking water of nearly half of Newark’s public schools, from old fixtures and faucets, and solder between water pipes. The following year, lead levels in one in five water samples collected from the city exceeded the EPA’s action level. Further tests in the second half of 2018 revealed even higher levels. After some prompting from local activists and national groups, Newark then began to quickly tackle the problem with Adeem now at the helm.
“It’s our system. We have to protect it, ”Adeem said. “And we will continue to invest in it so that this problem never happens again. “
In March 2019, contractors began removing old lead pipes from Newark. The original plan was to complete the big project in about eight years, but with county and state financial help, they “sped it up,” said Thomas Schoettle, senior vice president of CDM Smith, the engineering and construction company hired. by the city.
The last two rounds of water samples, conducted throughout 2020, showed Newark to be in compliance with EPA regulations again. The city and the State Department of Environmental Protection subsequently reached an agreement in late January with advocacy groups, including the Newark Education Workers Caucus, which Jordan, the history professor, chairs. The groups sued in 2018 for alleged violations of the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act.
Still, not everyone is happy with the way Newark handled their main crisis. A New York Times investigation published in August 2019 concluded that city officials “dismissed the warnings and allowed the system to deteriorate, while state and federal regulators often did not intervene with sufficient force to help prevent crisis”.
Even city officials agree that the mining of lead pipes should have been done decades ago. “Environmental issues shouldn’t be continually put aside for 30, 40, 50 years. And that was a huge one, ”Adeem said. “Some of my colleagues across the country were angry with me. “Why are you replacing core services so quickly? You’re going to put pressure on everyone to do it. But it really could have been done in 1986.
Many scientists and advocates have forgiven. It is to be expected that when faced with such a situation, the first thing a public official can do is “dodge” or “say something defensive,” said Van Abs, of the Rutgers University. “But Newark got over it and decided to do something different.”
Erik Olson, senior strategic director at NRDC, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, criticized the time it took Newark to admit they had a problem and resolve it. But he, too, suggested that their efforts should now serve as a national model. “We would like to see cities across the United States moving forward with a lead service line replacement program, in line with what Newark and Flint have done,” said Olson.
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This story was produced by Ensia, a nonprofit solution-focused media outlet that deals with our changing planet; he posted a longer version here.
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