Lead Readings In Thousands Found in D.C.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2003
Lead Readings In Thousands Found in D.C.
3
Thu, 03-04-2004 - 1:14am
>>Lead contamination of tap water in two District houses is so extraordinarily high that experts say the residents might be able to taste it, but city health officials never made more than routine efforts to inform the homeowners of the health risks.

Tests completed last fall revealed that a house in Northeast Washington had a lead level reading of 48,000 parts per billion and that a house in Northwest had a reading of 24,000 ppb, far above the federal limit of 15 ppb, according to a D.C. Water and Sewer Authority database. While WASA officials have said that lead usually cannot be seen or tasted in water, water-quality experts said the levels are so high in the two houses that the lead might be discernible.

Despite that, Paula and James McMillian, a married couple living in the Northeast house in the Bloomingdale neighborhood, said they received nothing more from WASA than a one-page form letter last month with test results. Two weeks ago, a D.C. Department of Health employee knocked on their door and asked whether there were any pregnant women or young children in the house, the couple said. When they said no, the employee left, they said.

"Our is off the charts," Paula McMillian said. WASA officials "definitely need to come back and make this a priority."

At the other house, in Columbia Heights, an 84-year-old woman, speaking on condition that she not be named, said she has not received any information since WASA officials entered her home to test the water last fall. In both cases, the residents said no one instructed them not to drink the water or offered to provide bottled water.

... <<

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28537-2004Mar3.html

This is the latest craziness in my neck of the woods... The reports that are coming out are verging on the absurd - how WASA and the Army Corps knew about the high lead-levels for at least a year, how they were told several years ago that it would be a problem given the chemicals they use (and don't use) in the water, and how it's now going to cost an astronomical amount to fix it. The latest news is that counties outside the district may also be having similar issues...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 03-04-2004 - 10:58am

Lead piping & lead in paint were standard years ago.


>"tests he performed showed that linking copper pipes to lead pipes will increase the leaching because the copper acts as a "battery" to decay the lead. This is even more likely if the water running through the pipes has been treated with chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, Edwards said. WASA has used chloramine since 2000."<


Jade I hope you're drinking bottled or filtered water. Sounds as though they tried to cover this problem up.

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2003
Thu, 03-04-2004 - 11:28am
>>chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia<<

you know, i remember in my high school chemistry class learning that you shouldn't mix these two compounds together... :)

>>Jade I hope you're drinking bottled or filtered water. Sounds as though they tried to cover this problem up.<<

No one in DC drinks tap water, lol. I actually started drinking bottled water at home when I could no longer stand the taste of filtered water, but at work (which is actually in the district) we had our lead levels tested and we're in the safe range...

But the problems are worse in the 'poorer' parts of town... That's where they're doing free blood testing and the like (and where the serious concentrations are showing up).

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Thu, 03-04-2004 - 12:05pm

yuck!