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Biden administration announces plan to replace 100% of lead pipes in US homes
The Biden administration on Thursday announced a "whole of government strategy" to remove dangerous lead from Americans' drinking water, including billions of dollars to begin replacing 100% of the lead pipes servicing the nation's homes.
Environmental groups praised the plan, which includes a promise to begin the process of strengthening the nation's drinking water standards to reflect the science showing that lead is toxic for children at any level.
But lawyers at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which has been leading efforts to fight lead, said they worry that the plan lacks a solid timeline and fails to deliver enforceable requirements.
The set of actions announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included the release of the first $2.9bn of $15bn approved in Biden's infrastructure plan for local water agencies to begin replacing lead pipes and called for the efforts to focus on the low-income communities who face the most risk of lead poisoning. It also listed 15 new actions across 10 federal agencies to address lead dangers from both water and paint.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @12:02AM (3 children)
They already monitor the levels of lead everywhere. Lead in pipes doesn't matter 99.9% of the time. It only leaches out when the water is acidic, which means it's probably already either contaminated by something or the people at the water company are doing a bad job.
Around here they started putting sodium hydroxide in the water a year or two ago to raise the pH and stop lead contamination - even though there was no lead contamination. NaOH costs $125 a ton and it doesn't take much.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Saturday December 18 2021, @07:28AM (2 children)
Limestone will raise pH too, but I'm not sure of the implications for drinking water (shouldn't be a problem?) Any thoughts on using limestone?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @12:53PM (1 child)
Yeah, ever heard of hard water? Lime scale? Calcium carbonate?
Sheesh. We spend tons of money to get that shit OUT of the water so it doesn't damageboilers, kettles, coffeemakers, your hair, etc.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday December 18 2021, @06:36PM
Thank you for the information. Your delivery could use some polish. Is it okay if people come here to learn, or should all posts be informative and definitive?
If limestone treatment is causing scale deposits, then it's probably over-treating, so use less limestone / bypass the lime bed tank somewhat. It's pretty easy to measure outflow conductivity and adjust the amount of treatment automatically.
Do water softeners remove some of that lime scale?
As you said, NaOH is the simple fix, as long as it's not contributing to scale deposits.