As the Biden administration makes billions of dollars available to remove millions of dangerous lead pipes that can contaminate drinking water and damage brain development in children, some states are turning down funds. [PBS News Hour and the Chicago Tribune]. A cut pipe is pulled from a dig site for lead testing in Royal Oak, Michigan. Lead can… Read more »
Posts Tagged: children
Durbin, Duckworth urge HUD to take steps to address lead poisoning
Illinois’ two Democratic senators joined nine colleagues last week urging the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take further steps to address lead poisoning in federally assisted housing.[Health News Illinois] The 11 senators, including Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, said in a letter sent last week to department Secretary Marcia Fudge that they wanted an… Read more »
My Chicago neighbors and I have lived with lead in our water. Enough is enough.
Safe drinking water is a fundamental human right. Yet, year after year, families in my community still struggle with lead-contaminated drinking water — and it’s coming straight from their faucets. [Chicago Tribune 8.16.2023] The Southeast Side of Chicago is made up of several vibrant communities, full of old houses like mine, plagued by many environmental… Read more »
Durham city workers fence off areas in two parks after high levels of lead found
Durham city workers fenced off areas at two parks which showed concerning lead levels on Friday. [11 ABC, 8.4.2023] According to a memo sent Thursday by the City Manager’s Office, preliminary results of soil samples collected by Mid-Atlantic Associates identified seven spots at Walltown Park and eight spots at East Durham Park as areas that… Read more »
Here’s Why There Is Still So Much Lead Pipe in Chicago- Time
Even though lead in drinking water damages children’s development, the Environmental Protection Agency has forced very few cities to replace their lead pipes. [Time magazine 7.9.2023] Consider Chicago, with more water pipes made out of lead than any U.S. city, some 400,000. About 7% of homes that requested sampling last year exceeded federal limits, and in at… Read more »
Removing brain-damaging lead from day cares is aim of new Cook County initiative
Though efforts to replace potentially dangerous lead service lines across Illinois have been slow and costly, Cook County government Tuesday announced a new program to replace at least 550 such lines at suburban home-based day cares over the next two years. Under the new LeadCare Cook County, providers in Calumet City, Cicero, Hazel Crest, Harvey… Read more »
City should move more quickly to get lead out of Chicago’s drinking water
Editorial Sun-Times December 11, 2022 Chicago needs to get the lead out a lot faster than it has done so far. The city has the nation’s most serious problem with lead in drinking water. No level of lead in water is safe. Even at low levels, lead can harm kidneys and developing brains, leading to lower IQs, hearing… Read more »