Lead and forever chemicals in our water are inflicting harm on our kids. There is a path forward.
Chicago continues to ignore a serious epidemic facing our children — lead contamination in drinking water, which does irreversible damage to children and has been doing so for generations.
No amount of lead in drinking water is safe. It slows growth and developmental learning and contributes to behavioral, hearing and speech problems. Epidemiological studies have also established it contributes to lower IQs and decreased ability to pay attention and perform well in school.
Many of the chronic challenges that disproportionately afflict low-income communities in Chicago — from underachievement in school and poor mental and physical health to higher rates of violent crime — could be attributed to generations of lead contamination. And the adverse effects continue beyond childhood.
There is a connection between lead contamination and violent crime. A 2007 study by economist Rick Nevin analyzing crime data from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, France and five other Western countries showed correlations between preschoolaged lead exposure and violent crime.
Research compiled by Environmental International in 2012 has documented the urban rise and fall of air lead emissions levels and surge and retreat of societal violence. A 2007 report published by The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, written by Jessica Wolpaw Reyes of Amherst College, found that between 1992 and 2002, the phaseout of lead in gasoline in the U.S. “was responsible for approximately a 56% decline in violent crime.”
We should, of course, be cautious about assigning all the credit for a social phenomenon to one cause. But the plummeting homicide rate nonetheless is a reminder that environmental regulations are not just nice rules that limit pollution; they also have a real impact on the health of American families and perhaps in the lives of everyday people. Keep that in mind the next time someone tells you about the “cost” of environmental regulation.
As if lead contamination were not enough of a problem, earlier this year, a Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that lead poisoning is not the only crisis affecting the city’s water supply. The investigation showed that extremely worrisome concentrations of toxic PFAS — perand polyfluoroalkyl substances — have been found in water throughout Illinois. Scientists are finding that even tiny concentrations of these “forever chemicals” can trigger testicular and kidney cancer, birth defects, liver damage, impaired fertility, immune system disorders, high cholesterol and obesity.
In an extraordinarily tonedeaf and outright negligent response, the Chicago Department of Water Management said it doesn’t plan to upgrade its treatment plants to address PFAS unless the city is required to by the federal government despite there being no safe level of exposure, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This mirrors the department’s lack of urgency in addressing
the lead crisis. City crews have replaced less than half of 1% of the almost 400,000 lead service lines responsible for contaminating Chicagoans.
At the city’s current pace of lead pipe replacement, it would take 500 years to complete the work. There is a simple pathway to quickly protect city residents, especially poor families and children, from lead and forever chemicals while embarking on an accelerated campaign to replace lead pipes.
First, aggressively distribute water filtration systems to any home, apartment building, school, child care center and eatery that needs one. The water department should select vendors with proven filtration systems, prequalifying providers and controlling costs through strategic sourcing. The school district would need only a fraction of its remaining COVID-19 funds to help families and early childhood providers secure water filtration systems.
Second, accelerate lead service line replacement by raising needed funds through dedicated revenue bonds financed with revenues from expiring TIFs. Financing lead service line replacement is also a permissible use of federal COVID-19 funds. The American Jobs Act also provides billions of dollars for lead pipe removal. Of course, even if funds are available, the city will need to remove the regulatory obstacles to use more innovative approaches to accelerate lead pipe replacement like officials did in Newark, New Jersey.
Newark addressed its lead crisis quickly by making available and installing water filtration systems in every at-risk home while nearly completing replacement of lead service lines in two years. Flint, Michigan, whose lead water contamination was a national scandal, is close to completing its replacement of its lead service lines.
The water crisis adds to the urgency for Chicago to reinstate the Department of the Environment, to not only drive clean water plans but also to deal with other critical issues facing the city such as environmental injustice, the need to implement a climate action plan and food desserts. Chicago has the largest life expectancy gap across neighborhoods among the largest 500 cities in the country, according to a new analysis by the New York University School of Medicine. How much of that is related to the environment?
Contaminated drinking water is an epidemic of devastating consequences in poor communities. There is a clear pathway for addressing the lead and forever chemicals in our water before more damage is done.
It’s time to get the lead out.