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Why are they using lead pipes? I understand that they may have a legacy system put in place before the dangers of lead were fully understood, but when your wate
by Tossrock 11y ago
Why are they using lead pipes? I understand that they may have a legacy system put in place before the dangers of lead were fully understood, but when your water distribution system is literally made of poison, I don't understand how replacing it could be back-burnered.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoThat's how America works unfortunately.
- mturmon 11y agoIn theory, you are right. In practice, replacement of legacy lead pipes is more complex. Briefly: replacing only some of the pipes can cause lead levels to increase due to (1) disturbance of nearby lead pipes during replacement; (2) ongoing galvanic effects near the replacement; (3) interfaces between the utility's new lead-free lines and a customer's old lead lines, if the customer does not choose to replace at the same time the utility does. Point (3) is especially troublesome. Even if the utility replaces all its lead pipes, things could get much worse for customers that don't follow suit right away. For (much) more: http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/toxic-taps/story/toxic-taps-lead-is-still-the-problem/ http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/tox... All these issues are just about pipe replacement, as distinct from higher lead levels due to pH changes or use of chloramines rather than chlorine (which was a surprise, see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817707/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817707/).
- Tossrock 11y agoThanks, this was really informative. Makes me glad I live in California.