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How Much Lead Is Too Much?

News: Water Pipe Lead Poisoning of Drinking Water

BWL to replace lead piping to 14,000 Lansing homes

By Tom Lambert
Lansing State Journal, July 11, 2004

Lansing's water supplier has identified 14,000 homes with potential lead poisoning problems and plans to replace piping going into the homes in the next 10 years.

Until Friday, however, the Board of Water and Light had no plans to warn homeowners that the water they are drinking could be dangerous.

Now it will. People living in all 14,000 homes will be urged to flush their water systems each morning and avoid drinking and cooking with hot water from their taps.

The utility has replaced lead piping at several thousand homes over the past 12 years but gave owners only a few weeks notice that it would go into their homes to change the pipes - which run underground and connect to the homes' water heaters - to copper.

But after inquiries into the policy by the State Journal, utility officials on Friday decided they would hold public meetings and send letters this week notifying homeowners whether they have lead pipes. The letters won't say when the pipes will be replaced.

When asked why residents weren't told earlier, Sanford Novick, BWL general manager, said: "Our position is, this isn't an immediate crisis, this is a long-term situation. It's not like people are going to be poisoned to death starting today."

That angers Emily Bourne, who lives on the south side with her husband and 3-month-old son, Aiden.

"What else aren't they telling us?" said Bourne, who drank tap water for five months of her pregnancy. She now uses bottled water.

Most susceptible

Those most at risk from lead exposure are children 6 and younger and unborn children. Prolonged exposure to lead weakens the central nervous system and can cause learning disabilities and other problems.

The BWL has replaced 2,000 to 3,000 lead pipes in Lansing since 1992, said Clyde Dugan, the utility's director of special projects.

But with people becoming more aware of the dangers of lead exposure, the utility decided this year to step up its replacement initiative and replace the remaining 14,000 pipes over 10 years, at a cost of $30 million to $40 million.

Bill Maier, a BWL water quality analyst, said a task force was formed in early May to accomplish that plan.

"We are replacing these pipes because it could be a problem down the line since they deteriorate over time," said Maier, also a task force member. "We don't have to do this, but we are. It's what our customers expect of us."

Citing confidentiality concerns, the utility wouldn't release the list of the 14,000 homes affected.

The BWL put an additional $2 million toward the project in this year's budget. In the past, it took about $500,000 annually out of its $8 million water utilities capital budget for the work.

The utility has tested about 290 Lansing homes for lead exposure in the past 12 years, Maier said. He said less than 10 percent of the tests came back with more than 15 parts per billion of lead - the limit state and federal governments have set before a utility has to address the issue.

He wouldn't say specifically how many homes exceeded 15 parts per billion.

Safe to drink

"Our water is safe to drink," Maier said. "People shouldn't be worried."

Jim Cleland, assistant chief of the state Department of Environmental Quality's water division, confirmed that the Board of Water and Light wasn't required by the state to replace the lead piping.

He also said that it isn't difficult for homeowners to see if they have lead pipes going into their homes.

"You should be able to see the pipe coming from the outside wall and connecting to your water meter, which is usually in the basement," he said.

Cleland added that just because homes don't have lead pipes doesn't mean the owners are in the clear.

"Lead is an alloy of brass - so fixtures in your home plumbing system, which could be faucets, valves or other connections, could lead to a problem," he said. "People should keep that in mind."

To reduce lead in drinking water

·  Let the tap water run for at least 30 seconds to a minute before drinking it. The more time water has been sitting in your home's pipes, the more lead it may contain. Anytime the water in a faucet has not been used for six hours or longer, flush the pipes by running the water until it becomes as cold as it will get.

·  Don't use hot water from the tap for cooking, drinking or making baby formula. Use only cold water.

Source: Environmental Protection Agency


 

October 29, 2004 Reaction Time to Fixing Lead in Schools' Water Is Disputed By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN   he chairman of the State Assembly Education Committee charged yesterday that New York State health and education officials failed to follow up on reports that dangerous levels of lead had been detected in drinking water at 120 schools and day care facilities. State officials disputed the charge and said that problems had been corrected at all but eight of the schools. The chairman, Assemblyman Steven Sanders, said that regulators distributed a survey in April to 684 schools and day care centers, and that results tallied in August found that the lead levels in water from fountains and sinks at 120 locations were high enough to require action under federal Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. In a blistering attack on the state's Health and Education Departments, Mr. Sanders charged that the agencies "ignored the findings entirely and did absolutely nothing to follow up." He also criticized the agencies for asking schools and day care centers only whether their lead levels exceeded the federal standard of 20 parts per billion and not demanding the specific results. Mr. Sanders also complained that 91 schools had checked a box on the survey saying they needed assistance on lead in drinking water but had received no response. He said he would pursue legislation mandating periodic lead testing at all schools. State officials said that Mr. Sanders was being unnecessarily alarmist and that parents had little reason for concern. "All but a handful of the schools identified as having levels that exceeded the standard have taken corrective action," said William Van Slyke, a spokesman for the Health Department. "This has actually been a wonderfully successful effort by the two state agencies." Mr. Van Slyke accused Mr. Sanders of grandstanding ahead of Election Day. "This is an egregious example of election eve hysteria," he said. Repeated exposure to hazardous lead levels can result in lead poisoning, which can cause irreversible neurological damage, including learning disabilities, hearing loss and other problems. Mr. Sanders, a Democrat from Manhattan, called the agencies "shamefully negligent" for failing to follow up on the survey and request detailed information from schools. State officials said the survey was distributed only to schools in areas where questions had been raised about the public water system and where officials would have been monitoring the situation. And they noted that the survey asked schools: "What follow-up actions have been taken as a result of the sampling?" Officials said that even before the survey was distributed to 1,700 schools in April, the state had worked with federal officials to check the water in the largest school districts, including New York City, where 33,857 samples were taken from the city's roughly 1,200 schools. In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael E. Burke, the director of the Bureau of Public Water Supply Protection, part of the state's Health Department, reported that "in New York City, mitigative measures were taken at outlets in 370 schools." In Syracuse, Mr. Burke reported, 2,351 samples were taken from 370 schools, and problems were addressed at 289 outlets. More than 400 of the state's 5,000 schools operate and maintain their own drinking water supply and are required to test for lead.