More than 18 million Americans received drinking water from systems with lead violations in 2015, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report. According to NRDC scientists and health experts, the problem could be significantly more pervasive because many more water systems known to have such violations—including that in Flint, Mich.—do not show up as having lead violations in the government database designed to track such problems.
“Americans take it for granted that the water flowing from their home taps is clean and safe, but all too often that assumption is wrong,” said Erik Olson, health program director for NRDC. “Shoddy data collection, lax enforcement of the law and cities gaming the system have created a potent brew of lead violations and unsafe drinking water from the water supplies used by millions of people across the nation.”
“What’s In Your Water: Flint and Beyond” documents lead in drinking water issues across the U.S. The peer-reviewed report offers explores the issues that contributed to widespread lead contamination in Flint, mapping U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violations for the federal Lead and Copper Rule and documenting the lack of enforcement against those violations. NRDC’s analysis and accompanying digital maps expose the scope of lead-related issues in drinking water systems across the U.S. The report found that more than 18 million people were served by 5,363 community water systems that violated the Lead and Copper Rule. These violations included failure to treat to reduce lead levels, monitor for lead and report test results to citizens or the government.
Not every person served by these systems is known to have excessive lead in his or her water, because only a small percentage of homes were tested, and lead levels can vary from home to home. However, according to industry estimates, 15 million to 22 million Americans are served drinking water through lead service line (the pipe connecting a residence to the water main) that can release lead into tap water.
“A whopping nine out of 10 of these water rule violations never faced any formal enforcement. In fact, states and EPA sought penalties against only 3% of Lead Rule violators. That’s inexcusable. The message sent to water suppliers that knowingly violate the law is clear: There is no cop on the beat,” Olson said.
Flint’s absence on the map of Lead and Copper Rule violations indicates that the problem of lead-contaminated water may be broader than previously understood. EPA audits have long found that many drinking water violations do not show up in its database.
NRDC’s report also examines how testing methods could be utilized to avoid detecting lead problems. In cities like Flint, Chicago and Philadelphia—where localized lead spikes may put the public at risk—officials allegedly have “gamed” water testing in ways that may obscure lead contamination. For example, systems could monitor in locations less likely to have lead problems rather than in the highest risk homes, or could use water sampling methods that minimize the chance of finding high lead levels. EPA issued a guidance document in February 2016 discouraging these methods.
“Nationally, water systems’ monitoring violations and tricky testing techniques could be masking the exposure of millions more Americans to lead,” said Kristi Pullen Fedinick, Ph.D., staff scientist for NRDC. “No amount of exposure to lead is safe, especially for children, who are more susceptible to lead poisoning and suffer more severe impacts.”
“The bottom line is that lead is found in drinking water in cities well beyond Flint, often affecting vulnerable lower-income communities of color,” said Rhea Suh, president of NRDC.
A top priority for NRDC is addressing the ongoing water crisis in Flint. Alongside local partners, NRDC filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking to bring Flint into compliance with federal law governing safe drinking water and replace Flint’s lead service line. Beyond addressing that situation, the NRDC highlights a number of major changes the organization believes are needed at the national level to protect the health of millions of Americans from lead-contaminated water, including:
- Fix Flint: Make improvements with both immediate emergency relief and long-term infrastructure and systemic improvements.
- Get the lead out: Invest in the rest of the country’s water infrastructure, removing lead service line and fixing other water problems with a prioritization of underserved communities.
- Fix our drinking water laws and rules: Implement and enforce a bolstered Lead and Copper Rule, while letting citizens more easily sue for relief from contaminated water.
- Address environmental injustice: Give local communities that bear a disproportionate burden of polluted water opportunities to participate in developing solutions to drinking water infrastructure challenges.
Pauli Undesser, deputy executive director for the Water Quality Association (WQA), released a statement in response to the report.
"The fact that as many as 18 million Americans receive drinking water from systems with lead violations is troubling, but it's only part of the story," said Undesser. "Many more contaminants can be picked up between a community's water treatment facility and a homeowner's faucet. That's why we urge homeowners to have their water tested through a certified water-testing laboratory and to use only certified water filtration products, many of which can be purchased at a local retailer at an affordable cost."
To view the report, its companion searchable interactive map, supplemental documents explaining the issues at play, and steps communities and homeowners can take to protect themselves from lead-tainted drinking water, visit https://www.nrdc.org/stories/whats-your-drinking-water.
Homeowners can check with the WQA at www.wqa.org to find a certified product and water quality professional, or connect with a certified testing lab through the EPA at http://water.epa.gov/scitech/drinkingwater/labcert/statecertification.cfm.
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council
