ABCDE Democracy Dies in Darkness SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004 Water in D.C. Exceeds EPA Lead Limit Random Tests Last Summer Found High Levels in 4,000 Homes Throughout City By David Nakamura and fetuses. Health officials said it is dif- Washington Post Staff Writer ficult to quantify how much danger lead contamination in water poses. A person Tap water in thousands of District whose blood has more than 10 micrograms houses has recently tested above the fed- of lead per tenth of a liter should be con- eral limit for lead contamination, a new cerned, but how much contaminated water phenomenon that has baffled the D.C. a person must drink to reach that level var- Water and Sewer Authority and forced the ies. agency to begin replacing service pipes. Although the extent of the water prob- Two-thirds of the 6,118 residences that lem and its public health implications are WASA tested last summer, or 4,075 homes, just coming to light, WASA officials have had water that exceeded the lead limit of 15 been aware of the contamination since parts per billion set by the Environmental random tests on a small number of houses Protection Agency in 1991. This is the first time the city’s water has shown significant lead contamination since the late 1980s, Lead Contamination officials said. The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority WASA officials said they are not sure found that 4,075 of 6,118 homes tested what has caused the spike in lead levels. above the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit for lead contamination. They are investigating whether changes in Houses testing above 15 parts per billion the way water is treated at the Washington 2,000 Aqueduct could have a corrosive effect on 1,788 lead pipes. 1,500 1,282 Lead, which can be ingested by drink- 1,000 848 ing contaminated water or inhaling lead 500 146 11 0 paint fumes, can cause serious damage to 15-50 50-100 100-300 300-500 More than the brain, nervous system, kidneys and red 500 SOURCE: D.C. Water and Sewer Authority blood cells, particularly in children, babies THE WASHINGTON POST SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004 KLMNO PAGE 2 Water in D.C. Exceeds Lead Limit BY MICHAEL ROBINSON-CHAVEZ—THE WASHINGTON POST Four-year-old Michael Joseph often visits at the Georgetown home of his grandfather Charles Eason, whose tap water registered 36 times the EPA limit in the random testing. “It’s shocking,” Eason said of the test results. revealed a problem in 2002. Although that the purpose of the meeting was “to agency officials discovered a more exten- discuss and solicit public comments on sive problem last summer, they did not WASA’s Safe Drinking Water Act projects.” begin to notify home-owners about the Tony Bullock, spokesman for Mayor results until November. WASA held a pub- Anthony A. Williams (D), said he was lic meeting about the is-sue in December, unaware of the lead problem and believed but its advertisements did not reveal the that the mayor had not been informed. lead problem. Instead, they simply stated Several D.C. Council members said they, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004 KLMNO PAGE 3 too, were unaware. not have lead contamination problems to D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty suddenly exceed the level above which the (D-Ward 4) said he first heard about the EPA requires corrective action. situation yesterday when two constituents “The District is the only one in our sent his office e-mails about the lead con- region—this is pretty rare,” said George tamination. Rizzo, an environmental scientist for the It is not just the number of houses that EPA’s mid-Atlantic office, which oversees registered above the EPA limit that has alarmed experts, but also the amount of lead found Highest Readings in the water. Although the fed- The Environmental Protection Agency has set the limit for lead eral government requires that in water at 15 parts per billion. But in the District, random cities begin a pipe replace- sampling has found that 4,075 houses have exceeded that limit, including 11 houses that registered more than 500 parts per ment program when lead lev- billion. Those houses are spread through the city. The D.C. Water els exceed 15 parts per billion, and Sewer Authority has stressed that the sites are individual 2,287 D.C. houses had lead lev- properties and that other homes on each block could be below the EPA limit. Test results depend on whether homes have lead els exceeding 50 parts per bil- or copper pipes and other factors. lion, including 157 residences with more than 300 parts per 355 185 Houses with a lead reading . E exceeding 500 parts per billion MONTGOMERY AV billion. NOTE: Site in unit block of V Street NW CO. IA G R not shown. EO 16TH ST. Erik Olson, an analyst G 190 CONN. AVE. r. WIS. AVE. C 29 N.H. AVE. PRINCE for the Natural Resources MD. k c GEORGE’S MASS. AVE. o Defense Council, an environ- R CO. mental group that monitors 295 1 public health issues, said he D.C. R.I. AVE. 50 50 R. was shocked. VA. N.Y. AVE. a ti s K ST. o “I’ve never heard of any- c a n 295 A thing like that. This is a really CONST. AVE. 66 INDEP. AVE. E. CAP. ST. big deal,” said Olson, who has 395 surveyed the drinking water PENN. AVE. 50 P o t in more than 100 cities. “If o ARLINGTON m CO. a 4 schools go over 20 parts per 395 c SUITLAND R 295 PKWY. billion, they immediately take 5 the water out of production.” PRINCE GEORGE’S Federal authorities said 1 MD. CO. 0 3 495 it is unusual for a city that did MILES VA. 210 95 BY GENE THORP—THE WASHINGTON POST SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004 KLMNO PAGE 4 five states and the District. owner. Thus, owners must decide whether Cynthia Dougherty, head of the EPA’s to replace those pipes, a proposition that drinking water office, said some cities have could cost as much as several thousand exceeded the action level. Most of those, dollars, WASA officials said. however, were above the limit in 1991 and WASA recommends that residents are still trying to get below it, she said. whose water is contaminated flush their “It’s shocking,” said Charles Eason, taps by allowing the water to run for 30 whose home in Georgetown had water that seconds to one minute before drinking it registered 36 times the EPA’s lead limit. or using it for cooking, although that pro- “It’s a particular risk for young people, and cess is not always successful in clearing the I have a 4-year-old grandson in my house lead. Residents also can purchase a home regularly.” treatment device or use bottled water. Boil- There are 130,000 water service lines ing the water or using a standard pitcher for residential customers in the District. with a filter will not help protect against About 23,000 of those are made of lead, lead, officials said. while the rest are made of copper, officials Lynette Stokes, a physician who over- said. The lead pipes are spread throughout sees the D.C. Department of Health’s lead the city, mostly servicing older single-fam- testing program for children, said that ily homes. in general, dust or lead paint poses a far Now that WASA has discovered wide- greater risk than contaminated water. Par- spread lead contamination, EPA guidelines ents of children younger than 6 can bring require the agency to replace 7 percent of them in to have their blood tested for free, its lead pipes annually, which is estimated Stokes said. to cost$10 million to $20 million a year. “That will help us identify whether or The agency will focus on neighborhoods not any of that lead in the water has dosed where lead contamination is the highest, that child to a degree where we need to be said Michael Marcotte, WASA’s chief engi- concerned,” she said. The District does not neer. offer a screening program for adults or for “Where we are aware of a situation children 6 and older. where someone has a particular health WASA gets its water from the Wash- concern and young children, we’ll work ington Aqueduct, which also services with them as quickly as we can in the pro- Arlington and Falls Church. The water at cess,” Marcotte said. the aqueduct has long been treated with WASA is responsible only for pipes chlorine to kill bacteria. But the chlorine in public space. The portion of pipe that was combining with organic materials in runs through private property and into a the pipes and creating new, harmful chem- house is the responsibility of the home- icals, officials said. Four years ago, scien- SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004 KLMNO PAGE 5 tists added ammonia to balance the chlorine, creating a com- Coping With Lead Problems pound known as chloramine. The D.C. Water and Sewer What do I do if my water has It’s possible, officials said, Authority found significant high levels of lead? that the chloramine is more cor- lead contamination in the wa- ter of more than 4,000 homes WASA suggests several rosive to lead pipes. Falls Church during random sampling last steps. They are: year. Here are some questions 1. Flush the water system by has no lead pipes; Arlington has and answers regarding lead allowing water to run for 30 a few but has discovered no lead in drinking water.