Photograph: Jamie Kelter Davis/The Guardian The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends setting levels for school drinking fountains of no more than 1ppb, related to the fact that children’s brains are particularly susceptible to lead.īy this measure, 71% of Chicago tests reviewed by the Guardian would not pass.Įlizabeth Granato uses only filtered water in her kitchen. The Food and Drug Administration sets the standard for lead in bottled water at 5ppb – a level that more than a third of Chicago’s tests exceeded. Many experts say the standards should be stricter, and the EPA has agreed it is time to review them. And the EPA itself issued a notice warning Chicago residents that a study found that its method “underestimates” lead levels. Flint was also technically in compliance until more detailed testing revealed the extent of its problems. Health agencies say no amount of lead is safe, and that even low amounts can cause problems.īut the EPA has an “action level” of 15ppb – meaning that cities are only required to notify the public when at least 10% of a small sample of homes tested are above that amount.īy this measure, Chicago is in compliance.īut this method may miss widescale issues. There are different standards and opinions about how much lead is tolerable in water, and therefore how provocative these Chicago findings are. Although the Flint crisis rang alarm bells across the country, estimates say there are some 10m lead pipes still serving US homes – meaning these homes could potentially have unsafe tap water. The situation in Chicago is emblematic of an immense national issue. Yet, as of this month, only 180 of the city’s almost half-million lead lines have been replaced. 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 efforts to get it out of the ground and out of people’s drinking water seem to be stalled in bureaucratic gridlock.Ī choropeth map of Chicago showing percentage of tests at or above 15 parts per billion for lead. In adults, low levels of lead are associated with kidney problems and increasing blood pressure, which can lead to a host of cardiac effects.Ĭhicago has an estimated 80% of homes with water connections made of lead, more than any other city in the nation. It has been linked to lower IQ levels, behavioral disorders and worsening performance in reading and math.
Once in the blood, lead can cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the nervous system. Numerous studies have shown that, even at low levels, lead can leave an indelible impact on young children and adults.
“This data shows lead well above the action level consistently, at addresses across the city again and again and again, and it’s been sitting here publicly available for years,” said Betanzo. The time to cut it off is as soon as possible. “Lead is a potent, irreversible neurotoxin with no safe level of exposure and multigenerational impacts.
“There’s a very clear data set here showing very concerning lead levels in Chicago – and the residents need to have this information,” said Betanzo, the founder of a water engineering firm. One home, in the majority-Black neighborhood of South Chicago, had lead levels of 1,100 parts per billion (ppb) – 73 times the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit of 15ppb.
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The analysis found that nine of the top 10 zip codes with the largest percentages of high test results were neighborhoods with majorities of Black and Hispanic residents, and there were dozens of homes with shockingly high lead levels. A line of homes in Chicago’s Northside neighborhood of Belmont Cragin.
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