The EPA estimates that nine million homes in the U.S. have lead pipes.

President Biden on Tuesday announced $2.6 billion in funding to replace all lead pipes in the United States as part of a new EPA rule that will require lead pipes to be identified and replaced within 10 years using the new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

  • wolfylow@lemmy.world
    1375·
    1 month ago

    TIL that lead pipes carrying drinking water are still used in the States.

    Suddenly SO MUCH makes sense.

    • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.ukEnglish
      59·
      1 month ago

      Famously so in Flint, Michigan. Lead poisoning in water and air is no joke and does serious damage to cognitive ability. Average lead levels in air are still painfully high and it does not go away.

        • Voyajer@lemmy.world
          20·
          1 month ago

          Iirc the issue with Flint was they changed water sources and with it the PH of the water, dissolving the mineral deposits that were insulating the water from the lead pipe itself.

          • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 month ago

            Yes, that is indeed what happened. But the detail of how it started becoming a bigger problem isn’t all that important. All that lead should have been gone by now whether it was actively leaking or not. It should have been the next great taxed based infrastructure project. Interstates? Wait till we stop poisoning ourselves with stupid juice.

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
              2·
              1 month ago

              I mean, the interstate project started in the 1950’s and people didn’t start being concerned about lead water pipes until the 1970s. Clearly this will all be fixed by the 1980s, 1990s tops

      • nelly_man@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        1 month ago

        When it comes to lead pipes, it is possible for them to safely carry water without the risk of leaching lead into the drinking water, but it relies on the pipes being properly maintained and the water being properly treated. This is where the issue came with Flint.

        Prior to 2014, the Flint River was a backup source for drinking water with the primary source being Lake Huron. However, Flint was facing a financial crisis and decided to switch their water supply to the Flint River. When they switched, they also chose to save money by not treating the new water source with the additional anticorrosion materials that would be necessary for the different properties of this water. This caused the existing lead pipes to corrode through the protective layer that had naturally formed previously, allowing lead to leach into the water supply.

        Aside from the dangers of lead contamination for the human body, there is another concern when it comes to water treatment. Lead reacts with chlorine, and chlorine is added to drinking water to protect against harmful bacteria. Since there was now a significant amount of lead leaching into the water, a notable portion of the chlorine was now bound to the lead and was not available to kill harmful bacteria. This created the initial problems that were identified by residents in Flint, MI, and it was later discovered that the water supply now had detectable levels of lead.

        So Flint exemplifies the issue well. Lead pipes are dangerous and should not be used, but that danger isn’t absolute. Because lead pipes can be safe, we’ve let this problem fester for decades. However, it takes a lot of care and attention to keep using these pipes safely, and, as can be seen in Flint, it is very easy for those precautions to be tossed aside. When that happens, it becomes a major crisis very quickly.

        • Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net
          6·
          1 month ago

          Flint also exemplifies the issue well how the people that knowingly chose to poison a city faced zero consequences.

      • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
        51·
        1 month ago

        The obama thing in flint is when i realized almost all politicians are fucking empathy lacking sociopaths. You just have to figure out and choose the ones that plan to win by doing the things that are the least deranged.

        After officials briefed Obama on the federal government’s response to the contamination and he addressed the news media, a reporter asked if he would drink the water in a glass on the table. The president said he usually avoids publicity stunts. But he took a drink, saying he wanted to show the water must be safe if he’s drinking it.

        “This used a filter,” Obama said of the water. “The water around this table was Flint water and it just confirms what we know scientifically, which is, if you’re using a filter, if you’re installing it, then Flint water at this point is drinkable.”

        The second part is technically correct but its still a very clear attempt at trying to make it seem like things were fine. And now we are where we are, many years later, and the pipes are still all fucked because it wasnt taken serious.

    • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
      411·
      1 month ago

      Lead pipes don’t leach lead into the water when the water’s properly treated. The problem is what happens when there’s a hiccup in the water treatment process, which happens too often. This is going to be a very difficult process to complete in some very old, often impoverished neighborhoods.

      Of note, I live in Texas, and we have very few lead pipes in the state, so you’re going to need another excuse for these people’s behavior.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      331·
      1 month ago

      It’s not exactly an easy fix. You’re talking about digging up entire cities and replacing their water pipes. Obviously, it needs to be done, but the cost and the logistics are a nightmare.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 month ago

        In many places, the water mains have been replaced over the years, but no one wants to spend money on lines up to people’s houses

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
      61·
      1 month ago

      Which is why I only drink from my reverse osmosis filter. My brain still works, for now, those micro plastics are getting everywhere.