TOLEDO, Ohio—Lead pipes like the ones that contaminated the tap water in Flint, Michigan, carry water into millions of older homes across the U.S. every day, a legacy of an era before scientists realized the severe long-term health consequences of exposure to the heavy metal.
Replacing these buried pipes would be costly in many cases, so chemicals often are added to prevent the plumbing from corroding and leaching lead and other dangerous metals into the drinking water. That’s a step authorities in Flint failed to take, for reasons that are being investigated.
Some researchers question whether chemical treatment and routine testing for lead in the water are enough, arguing that the only way to remove the threat is to replace the pipes.
Utility operators say what happened in Flint—a largely poor and predominantly black city of about 100,000 people that was once an automobile manufacturing powerhouse—is unlikely to be repeated, pointing to a series of mistakes at every level of government.
In Toledo, which like Flint is an older, Rust Belt city, officials have long treated the water with phosphates to prevent leaching. Phosphates are generally considered safe for humans but can lead to runaway algae growth when the water works its way back into lakes and rivers.
Trouble can start when a utility makes a change in its treatment process or taps into a new water source without accounting for how that will affect its lead pipes, said Daniel Giammar, a lead and water researcher at Washington University in St. Louis.
“In general, as long as the water chemistry isn’t changing, you won’t have a problem,” he said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires all drinking water utilities to test for lead. The frequency of the testing can range from six months to every three years, depending on past lead levels.
The reliability of such testing is a matter of debate. Often, a small number of homeowners are given instructions and asked to provide samples of their water, which is then analyzed by regulators. That, of course, does not guarantee all homes are lead-free.
“Each individual really is given a large responsibility, and I think most people would be surprised to learn that they can’t trust what’s flowing from their tap in many cities,” said Marc Edwards, an environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech University who investigated high lead levels in Flint.
Utility operators in Washington started a $400 million pipe replacement program after lead levels spiked above federal standards. But they halted the work in 2008, saying other measures had brought lead down to acceptable levels.
In Michigan, Lansing has eliminated about 13,500 lead lines and hopes to have all of them replaced within the next two years. The city is spending about $42 million over 10 years to do the work.
One big obstacle is that the lead pipes under the streets are owned by the utilities, while the sections leading into houses are usually the responsibility of the homeowners.
Also, researchers have found that removing just part of the lines isn’t enough to solve the problem and can actually make it worse by loosening lead particles in the plumbing that remains. That’s why the water utility in Madison, Wisconsin, decided to replace its lead pipes and cover half the cost for homeowners.
City water quality manager Joe Grande said only a few lead pipes remain since the completion of the $15 million project three years ago.
“We look back and know we made the right decision,” he said. “We’re not in a situation like Flint today because we made those decisions years ago.”
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