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Concern
over lead levels in US water supply Recent discovery of elevated lead levels in Washington, DC drinking water may lead to a re-evaluation of how utilities measure and report lead concentrations to consumers. The Washington D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) has acknowledged that many in the city have been consuming water with elevated lead, as much as 50-75 times the current federal standard. The recent use of chloramines in disinfection by the D.C. utility has been identified as a cause for the problem by Dr. Marc Edwards, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech University. Chloramines leach lead solder in home pipes, leading to the release of lead into the water. A recent Washington Post story has raised questions of how utilities are reporting lead results to consumers. In a survey of 65 large water utilities, the Post article alleges that many utilities are discarding unfavorable lead results and selecting homes for testing that do are not representative of homes that are at greatest risk, homes built before the 1980’s when lead solder was banned. |
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Municipal Water Supply
Groundwater |
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Send Comments or
Questions to lwrri@lwrri.lsu.edu |