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12.6.24 “boil” water advisories must become “filter-and-boil” water advisories
On 12.3.24, the Washington, DC water utility issued a Boil Water Advisory for residents in a few city neighborhoods. The reason was water pressure loss, which can result in pathogens entering the distribution system and making people sick. Boiling water is the right thing to do when you're aiming to kill disease-causing organisms. But this same precautionary measure does not remove lead that might also be present in the water. In fact, boiling water can concentrate any lead that’s in it and place people at risk of increased lead exposures. Here’s the message we emailed about this problem to many of our DC neighbors. Turning “Boil Water” advisories to “Filter-and-Boil Water” advisories is urgent, not only for DC, but for cities and towns all across the country.
11.19.24 remembering the 2014 letter from former EPA Region 5 regulations manager miguel a. del toral to the american water works association (AWWA)
On March 3, 2014—over 10 years after the historic exposé of Washington, DC’s unprecedented 2.5-year lead-in-water contamination cover-up and about two months before the start of the Flint, Michigan water crisis—Miguel A. Del Toral, former EPA Region 5 regulations manager for the drinking water program, sent a letter to the leading trade and lobby group in the US, the American Water Works Association (AWWA), explaining why he had decided to cancel his membership. Del Toral wrote that, in light of the association’s unexplainable positions on lead in drinking water, he could no longer support AWWA “in good conscience as a scientist and public servant.”
11.14.24 october 30 conversation about lead in water on milwaukee’s earl ingram radio show
On October 30, 2024, Milwaukee’s Earl Ingram radio show hosted three members of the Campaign for Lead Free Water for a conversation about the Milwaukee Health Department’s (MHD) announcement concerning updated blood lead screening guidelines for the city's children. We believe that, although a step in the right direction, these guidelines will continue to mislead Milwaukee residents about the contribution of lead in water to lead in children’s blood. More importantly, they are likely to continue to leave Milwaukee children inadequately protected from routine, but preventable, lead-in-water exposures.
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7.22.24 campaign for lead free water webinar about DC water’s lead service line (LSL) identification process
On July 22, 2024, the Campaign for Lead Free Water hosted a webinar about DC Water’s LSL identification process. Participants included DC Water (the webinar presenters); DC residents; local and national clean water and environmental justice advocates; representatives from the DC Department of the Environment (DOEE), DC Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC), Office of DC Councilmember for Ward 4 Janeese Lewis George, Office of DC Councilmember for Ward 6 Charles Allen; and Safe Water Engineering.
1.19.24 COMMUNITY coalition MEETING WITH EPA re LEAD-IN-WATER PUBLIC EDUCATION & messaging
On January 19, 2024, a coalition of affected community groups, clean water organizations, and environmental health and justice organizations met with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Water (OW), Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW), and Office of Policy (OP) to discuss our concerns with EPA’s lead-in-water public education and messaging, under the federal Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) and beyond. This meeting centered on our November 20, 2023 letter to EPA about the same topic and oral remarks from eleven members of our coalition.
Image source: Punya Mishra’s Web
6.24.21 The EPA Lead and Copper Rule is an Optical Illusion
Under the regulation that is supposed to protect us from lead in water (the Lead and Copper Rule or LCR), Washington DC has excellent water quality. But upon examination, the water utility’s own data is alarming.