6 ms·

"This is mostly due to how old the city is, rusty and lead pipes in old homes are impossible for the city to track and fix." It shouldn't be that hard to track

"This is mostly due to how old the city is, rusty and lead pipes in old homes are impossible for the city to track and fix." It shouldn't be that hard to track at all with a little brainpower. When did we stop using lead and iron piping? Add another 10 years forward and start from that date back, and find every home matching the age/time range. Everything else should be copper and/or plastic.

xeromal 7y ago
Who has those records? Are they accurate? Are they digitized? Are they consolidated into one place? Are they accurate?
- munmaek 7y ago
  No, no, you don't get it. This problem must be so easy and people quite simply haven't fixed it yet. Armchair analysts on HN know better than the people / agencies working on the problem. /s My guess is they do have (some) data, but it's split among departments, in different formats. Assuming detailed records were kept that far back.
  - lightedman 7y ago
    "Armchair analysts on HN know better than the people" You'd assume I'm an armchair analyst instead of someone that actually does civil planning work. They have ALL of that data. It's in the damned city plats. Go pay $20 and get a copy of your neighborhood's electrical and piping. Hell you can actually look it up for free online using ARCGIS.
eyegor 7y ago
Lead can also hang around in deposits in copper and brass piping or dissolve/precipitate with manganese from water treatment plants. Up until 1986 (epa ban) people still put together copper and brass pipe systems with lead solder. You would have to test or replace every section of piping installed prior to 1986. As another commenter pointed out, the chance of accurate records is basically nil. The best you could do is inspect every structure constructed and pipe laid until 1986, which would require a ton of taxpayer money. Good luck convincing people to vote for that. Edit: Another consideration - I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "lead scale" like with lime or calcium which could even hang around in "good" copper pipes. Someone more familiar with chemistry or water/wastewater engineering could probably give a more educated answer.
aardvark291 7y ago
> When did we stop using lead and iron piping? Who says we stopped? Water mains often have service life > 100 years. Old buildings have old plumbing.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lawrencevillain 7y ago
They actually have a somewhat decent map that shows you all of the lead pipes and their replacement strategy around the city. http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=1aae14d661b94ba0906aaba0d0f9108f&extent=-80.1996,40.3332,-79.7392,40.5274 http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=1aae14d...

xeromal 7y ago

Who has those records? Are they accurate? Are they digitized? Are they consolidated into one place? Are they accurate?

munmaek 7y ago
No, no, you don't get it. This problem must be so easy and people quite simply haven't fixed it yet. Armchair analysts on HN know better than the people / agencies working on the problem. /s My guess is they do have (some) data, but it's split among departments, in different formats. Assuming detailed records were kept that far back.
- lightedman 7y ago
  "Armchair analysts on HN know better than the people" You'd assume I'm an armchair analyst instead of someone that actually does civil planning work. They have ALL of that data. It's in the damned city plats. Go pay $20 and get a copy of your neighborhood's electrical and piping. Hell you can actually look it up for free online using ARCGIS.

eyegor 7y ago

Lead can also hang around in deposits in copper and brass piping or dissolve/precipitate with manganese from water treatment plants. Up until 1986 (epa ban) people still put together copper and brass pipe systems with lead solder. You would have to test or replace every section of piping installed prior to 1986. As another commenter pointed out, the chance of accurate records is basically nil. The best you could do is inspect every structure constructed and pipe laid until 1986, which would require a ton of taxpayer money. Good luck convincing people to vote for that. Edit: Another consideration - I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "lead scale" like with lime or calcium which could even hang around in "good" copper pipes. Someone more familiar with chemistry or water/wastewater engineering could probably give a more educated answer.

aardvark291 7y ago

> When did we stop using lead and iron piping? Who says we stopped? Water mains often have service life > 100 years. Old buildings have old plumbing.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

lawrencevillain 7y ago

They actually have a somewhat decent map that shows you all of the lead pipes and their replacement strategy around the city. http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=1aae14d661b94ba0906aaba0d0f9108f&extent=-80.1996,40.3332,-79.7392,40.5274 http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=1aae14d...