■ President Joe Biden is pushing to replace every lead water pipe in the country.

It’s viewed as a chance to close inequality gap

CHICAGO — Given short shrift by public officials for decades, the lead pipes snaking through Chicago and communities of every size from rural Maine to suburban California are in the national spotlight as President Joe Biden pushes to spend $45 billion to replace every lead water pipe in the country as part of his infrastructure package.

The moon-shot plan could have huge ramifications for Chicago and other cities where a swath of Black, Latino and low-income residents have been left effectively drinking from a lead straw decades after scientists established that lead consumption is unsafe at any level.

The White House holds out its leadpipe proposal as a generation-changing opportunity to reduce brain-damaging exposure to lead in 400,000 schools and child care centers and 6 million to 10 million homes. It’s also an effort that the administration says can help create plenty of good-paying union jobs around the country.

There are few, if any, cities where the issue is more salient than Chicago. The nation’s third-largest city is still estimated to have some 380,000 lead pipes bringing water into homes, schools and businesses. The city required their use until a 1986 federal ban that came long after most other American cities had phased out their use in the face of an avalanche of research on lead’s toxicity.

Biden’s plan “would be enormous if it comes through,” said Troy Hernandez, an environmental activist in the city’s predominantly Latino Pilsen neighborhood. Hernandez recently spent $15,000 to replace the lead service lines bringing water into his home. “I question whether $45 billion is enough, but it’s a really important step.”

Lead is unsafe to consume at any level for children, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Even low levels of lead in the blood can permanently damage the developing brains of children and result in slowed growth, hearing problems and anemia. The most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets and fixtures, according to the agency.

Shafkat Anowar The Associated Press Troy Hernandez, an environmental justice activist with Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization, shows a piece of lead pipe obtained from his residence during his home renovation on April 9 in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.