Chicago residents are being exposed to lead through their tap water.
One in 20 tap water tests in Chicago have found lead levels at or above U.S. government limits, according to an analysis of city’s water data conducted by the Guardian. The levels were about a third more lead than allowed in bottled water, according to the Guardian.
The analysis found that 1,000 households out of the 24,000 tests had lead levels well above the country’s safety standards. One household in particular, in the south of Chicago, had levels at 1,100 parts per billion (ppb). The limit proposed by the EPA is only 15 ppb. “EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agree that there is no known safe level of lead in a child’s blood,” the agency wrote in an online water safety guide.
Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin, and even low levels of exposure are cause for concern. There are serious consequences to exposure, and it’s especially harmful to infants and children. It damages the development of the brain and central nervous system, and long-term exposure can result in “intellectual disability and behavioral disorders,” according to the World Health Organization. Despite this knowledge, the city has been slow to get rid of the source of the lead, which are the almost half a million lead lines that run throughout Chicago. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/chica ... 33bb319fc3
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... r-revealed
In May 2021, Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, condemned previous mayors for “kicking the can down the road” and failing to deal with the urgent need for pipe replacements. Yet, as of this month, only 180 of the city’s almost half-million lead lines have been replaced.
JULY 14, 2020 BY CHICAGOCLOUT
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is going to follow Census results with her Census Cowboy.
Related https://chicagocrusader.com/mayor-light ... tallation/Mayor Lori Lightfoot has the Census Cowboy to visit young children in Chicago
Many high-ranking City of Chicago Commissioners were ordered to Mayor Lori Lightfoot last attempt to get as many people to enroll in the 2020 U.S. Census. The press conference cost taxpayers’ tens of thousands as workers were clapping to another taxpayer’s waste of time and funds. Last week I assisted Frank Coconate turn on water to many Chicago Citizens water lines due to shut offs. Many Chicago taxpayers have no money after paying Lori’s massive taxes and fees. I strongly suggest Mr. Census stay close to downtown and ride Mayor Lori Lightfoot instead. If this cowboy rides into the hood, he better has a six-shooter. Just another silly stunt from a Mayor that has National dreams and goals. Mayor Lightfoot has many Hispanic organizations going door to door and are paid really, really well. They are not U.S. census workers. Lightfoot just released more census ads on the back of the City of Chicago Department of Water Management release of the contents in the domestic water report. Just another taxpayer funded ad. Remember what I said, do not drink Chicago water out of the tap. Rahm Emanuel refuses as should you.
Of interest:
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/ma ... t-answers/
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Once again, we're pushing for answers about bad billing at the Chicago Department of Water Management.
It is a problem we have been investigating at CBS 2 for years – including last week, when CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards introduced you to Beatrice Ritchie. She is a former special education teacher for the Chicago Public Schools who is now battling dementia.
Ritchie had been handed a bill for $57,133.78 – for water never used.
CBS 2's Tara Molina went in search of answers on Thursday, and hand a tough time getting them. She was able to ask Mayor Lori Lightfoot two questions at her water-related press conference - and one of them focused on how hard it is to get information from the city's Water Department on water issues.
Our city requests for information about city billing and city water issues get delayed for months – and when we finally a response from the City of Chicago's Water Management Department, it is heavily redacted.
Do those heavily-redacted documents the Water Department has released to us constitute being "extraordinarily cooperative?" We don't think so.
But it doesn't matter what we think. It's about people like Ritchie – a 91-year-old Chicago taxpayer with dementia who owns a vacant building with no water connection – but is still being billed for water anyway.