Lead-In-Water Is Not A Secondary Concern
Lead-In-Water Is Not A Secondary Concern:
Public Commentary From Get The Lead Out Coalition - MKE
Milwaukee, the “Freshwater Capital Of The World”, has struggled to get a handle on lead poisoning, which has rivaled levels in Flint, Michigan. There has been a revolving door at the Milwaukee Health Department with each new health commissioner promising reforms on this issue. One thing has been consistent through the years and amidst this turnover: Milwaukee politicians and bureaucrats claim to know, with certainty, which sources of lead are poisoning us most. This assertion is lobbed with confidence and present in almost every public statement the City of Milwaukee and its health department make about lead.
It's confusing to watch the same city leadership attend events by former President Biden and VP Harris that stress the risk of lead-in-water and highlight efforts to remove lead service lines, while simultaneously arguing for a morbid caste system, ranking which source of lead poisons us more. How can local politicians with an incredibly poor track record of protecting Milwaukee residents from lead poisoning make such a claim?
The latest lead crisis here in MPS comes on the heels of a 2017 lead-in-water crisis in the same school system. Why have some of these politicians, like Mayor Johnson, stood with the former President on removal of lead laterala only to turn around when cameras are off and tell the community, with authority, that paint is THE main culprit? Despite the City of Milwaukee removing all lead laterals from the water main to all MPS schools, lead-in-water remains at MPS. In fact, a 2023 report from the Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund reported that, “In Milwaukee, for example, even after the school district stated that all lead service lines had been removed, tests showed 183 samples with lead in drinking water at levels greater than 15 parts per billion.” This analysis was completed on a dataset that MPS publicly supplied but that has mysteriously disappeared from their website.
Everyone should understand that ead,from any source, is a poison with known health risks. Pitting lead paint against paint pipes is a battle in which the public always loses. Other communities are not bogged down by such needless debates. Telling the public that lead paints is WORSE than lead pipes, can result in communities overlooking lead risks in their water.
Recently, MPS released their Lead Action Plan, with a goal of taking action only when drinking, cooking, and medical water sources are higher than 10 PPB. This is unacceptable. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended that school water have less than 1.0 ppb of lead-in-water. Moreover, the EPA has stated, “[we] have set the maximum contaminant level goal for lead in drinking water at zero because lead is a toxic metal that can be harmful to human health even at low exposure levels.” An action level of lead-in-water at 10 ppb in our schools should alarm the community. Lead accumulates in the body. The goal is ZERO. Period. The MPS Lead Action Plan should be revised to impose action for any tap that tests over 1.0 ppb of lead, in line with the AAP recommendation.
Our coalition is much clearer on the issue of lead: all lead sources are toxic. To rank sources of lead exposure as more or less important is not in the service of public health and it is counter to what our community is currently demanding. Remove all sources of lead exposure from our community - its schools, homes, water, soil, and air. Anything less is immoral.
Water is Life! Get The Lead Out
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