New Report Calls for Mandatory Lead Pipe Removal – Are Policymakers Listening?

Two decades after experiencing one of the country’s worst lead water crises, DC still has tens of thousands of lead utility lines that pose a health risk to the district’s residents, especially children.

“If you have a lead pipe, it’s the equivalent of Russian roulette. You never know when pieces of lead will flake off,” said Neil Boyer, chair of the NAACP DC Committee on Environmental and Climate Justice, at a Sept. 19 summit on environmental health hazards.

“There’s no such thing as a safe lead pipe,” Boyer said.

With support from at least $135 million in federal funding, DC Water aims to eliminate all leading utilities in the district by 2030. However, a new report commissioned by the DC Council found that the city needs to make big changes to prioritize the district’s residents who are most vulnerable to lead exposure.

A necessary step remains for DC lawmakers to make lead pipe removal mandatory and free for all residents, the report said. Currently, if DC Water wishes to replace a leading service line, this must be approved by the property owner.

Even with agency-initiated projects that remain free to residents, DC Water has a non-participation rate of about 25%, according to Lead Replacement Program manager John Deignan. That means the goal of 100% unleaded would have to return to the same roads at least once, doubling repair costs and making it essentially impossible to complete the task in 10 years.

At a September 27 roundtable hosted by the Council’s Committee on Transport and Environment, clean water advocates, DC Water leaders and lawmakers all agreed that it was unacceptable.

“We need a mandate and we need funding,” said Committee Chair, Councilor Mary Cheh.

A representative from her office confirmed that she plans to introduce legislation on the issue before leaving office in December.

Why a Fully Funded Lead Removal Mandate Matters

A mandate could help the city avoid environmental injustices that already make low-income residents and people of color more vulnerable to lead exposure, said Valerie Baron, a public representative on the Lead Service Line Planning Task Force set up by the council last year.

“If we don’t get every house in a block, the people who are left behind are disproportionately poor families and people of color,” Baron said. “We are literally paving the problem, leaving the same populations that have borne the brunt of the lead problem for decades to continue to grapple with it.”

Although many of the city’s known lead pipes are concentrated in neighborhoods with older homes like Columbia Heights and Capitol Hill, many homes in Districts 7 and 8 have pipes marked as “unknown” on DC Water’s inventory, Baron noted in an interview Celebration. Additionally, DC has historically relied on residents to pay for all or part of their utility line replacements, leading wealthier households to be more likely to eliminate their lead plumbing.

In 2019, the city enabled DC Water to fully cover the exchange initiated by the agency. Since October of this year, DC Water has replaced about 3,000 leading service lines, with more than 50% of those projects being either free or discounted for homeowners, Deignan said. Still, according to the utility’s current plan, about 39% of all lead pipe removals would have to be initiated — and at least partially paid for — by local residents.

Underlying inequalities increase vulnerability

DC Water has increased replacement rates over the past two years and its plan is prioritizing historically disadvantaged neighborhoods. But underlying disparities in access to good nutrition, educational support, and quality health care can make lead exposure more dangerous for black and low-income children than for their more affluent, white peers.

Certified water filters reduce lead, but neither DC Water nor the Department of Energy and Environment have long-term programs to provide families with free filters, another factor stacking the deck in favor of wealthier residents.

The independent report recommends providing filters for all individuals with known or suspected leading service lines. David Gadis, CEO of DC Water, told the roundtable that such a program would be too expensive, would require rate hikes and would move away from the permanent solution of removing lead pipes.

Proponents like Boyer don’t think that’s a good enough argument.

“What are you going to say to all those families who have to wait until 2030 to have their lead supply lines fully replaced and who you have refused to even consider providing them with free water filters?” he asked at the roundtable. “What will you say to the next family whose child is diagnosed with high blood lead levels? Will you apologize and share your thoughts and prayers with them?”

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