Lead in infrastructure is a dangerous pipeline

Lead poisoning is one of the greatest environmental and humanitarian injustices America faces, and not enough people are talking about it.

The Biden administration ruled on Oct. 8 that water utilities would have another 10 years to replace nearly every lead pipe in the country, according to The New York Times.

While the ruling puts American cities on the path to a better future, it obscures a major flaw in the plan.

The new rule does not require utilities to replace the portion of perpendicular lines on private property. This responsibility would lie with the homeowners.

The harsh reality of this is that lead lines are disproportionately common among lower income earners minority communities who cannot afford to make cuts $4,500 dollars to replace the lead pipes that flow into their homes and poison their water supply.

Kamala Harris does critical of the racial inequalities prevalent in this health crisis, yet she has not made a clear proposal on how to address these issues.

About 9.2 million lead pipes form according to a report of the Environmental Protection Agency. There is a large concentration of lead lines in the Rust Belt, with Ohio and Illinois listed as two of the 50 states with the highest levels of lead service lines.

According to my hometown of Cleveland, lead poisoning levels are nearly four times the national average News 5 Cleveland. To put this in perspective, Flint, MI reported elevated lead levels in children of 7% to 10% in 2016, while Cleveland sees approximately 12% to 13% of children with elevated lead levels, with some neighborhoods reaching figures approaching 25%. according to Case Western Reserve.

If residents of some of America’s largest cities aren’t safe from contaminated drinking water, who is? This is a national emergency and requires a president who believes in funding and coordinated action to remove lead pipes.

No amount of lead exposure is safe. High levels of lead exposure can lead to serious damage to the brain and nervous system, the study said World Health Organisation. Children can suffer from a variety of consequences, including lower IQ, behavioral changes, anemia and cardiovascular disease.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have described the recent ruling as a breakthrough for communities with an aging housing stock and dependence on corroding lead plumbing pipes across America.

The decision shows a commitment to fulfill promises Biden made in 2021 about replacing lead service lines following former President Donald Trump’s decision. 2020 updates The lead and copper regulations reduced the annual replacement rate of known or suspected lead lines from 7% to 3%. Bidens Infrastructure Act also allocates $15 billion to replace lead service lines.

While the Biden-Harris ruling may be historic, it is simply not enough to address these environmental, racial, and class-based injustices. Federal systems should be put in place that require cities to reimburse homeowners who replace their lead lines with copper, as seen in Madison, WI.

America owes its people clean water – and the government owes its cities help in their time of need.