Environnement

Detection of Lead in the DC Drinking Water System; Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Fisheries Wildlife and Water of the Committee on Environment and Public Works United States Senate One Hundred Eighth Congress Second Session April 7 2004

2006 · 58747 — Washington DC: U. S. Government Printing Office 2006. Presumed First Edition First printing. Wraps. Very good. v 1 390 pages. Illustrations. Footnotes. References. Tabular Data. No dust jacket as issued. S. Hrg. 108-504. This hearing examined very high levels of lead in the public water supply of the District of Columbia with particular emphasis to the risk posed to children. From the hearing remarks by Senator Warner the acting Chair "My constituents particularly in Arlington County and the city of Falls Church because they are the primary customers of the Washington Aqueduct System along with the District of Columbia. The facts of this situation as they have unfolded over the past 2 months are really very disturbing. It is even more disturbing however that we and the public became aware of this ongoing problem only after reports in the local media. Every one of the government officials sitting before us on the first panel the EPA the Corps the Water and Sewer Authority had some measure of knowledge that testing showed some level of lead. That level we will hear more about today and that that water was used for drinking. The levels we understand here on the committee exceeded the Federal action levels. The rest we know there was no immediate action taken even though that knowledge was in the hands of responsible government officials. We will have the opportunity today to give a full explanation of that. While performing research into premature pipe corrosion for the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority WASA in 2001 Marc Edwards an expert in plumbing corrosion discovered lead levels in the drinking water of Washington D.C. at least 83 times higher than the accepted safe limit. He found that the decision to change from chlorine to chloramine as a treatment chemical had caused the spike in lead levels. The contamination has left thousands of children with lifelong health risks and led to a re-evaluation of the use of monochloramine in public drinking-water systems. After the Washington Post ran a series of front-page articles about Edwards's findings resulting in widespread public concern the United States House of Representatives conducted an investigation. The House found that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC had made "scientifically indefensible" claims in a report that had indicated there was no risk from the high lead levels. The Post investigation uncovered evidence of widespread misreporting of lead levels at water agencies across the United States leading to regulatory crackdowns and changes in Environmental Protection Agency policies. The problem was addressed in 2004 by adding additional treatments to the water preventing the chloramine from dissolving lead in the water mains solder joints and plumbing fixtures. U. S. Government Printing Office paperback