The Biden administration has announced a proposal to “strengthen its Lead and Copper Rule that would require water systems to replace lead service lines within 10 years,” the White House said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the White House, more than 9.2 million American households connect to water through lead pipes and lead service lines and, due to “decades of inequitable infrastructure development and underinvestment,” many Americans are at risk of lead exposure.
“There is no safe level of exposure to lead, particularly for children, and eliminating lead exposure from the air, water, and homes is a crucial component of the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic commitment to advancing environmental justice,” the Biden administration said.
TIL that America uses lead water pipes… WTF
It’s actually pretty common around the world. Most places stopped putting in new ones but haven’t gone back and phased out the old ones.
The UK and Germany for example didn’t discontinue the practice until the 70s.
Usually there’s a coating in the pipes that prevents contamination, allowing utilities to replace the pipes with more modern replacements as they do routine maintenance. There’s a big focus on doing that maintenance ahead of schedule in the US after a series of very public incidents where that coating was damaged and lead got in the water causing serious issues.
Coating on lead pipes? I highly doubt that. The whole point of using lead is that it’s malleable, corrosion resistant and cheap.
The coating is usually a scale build up and not an intentional coating.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190403080506.htm
It’s not like it’s plastic lined, but there’s a coating that prevents lead from leeching into the water supply that’s built up by additives in the water.
If you want more info, just look up lead pipe scale.
Not that plastic coating would be much better with what we’re learning about that now.
America used lead water pipes
Lead pipes can last 100+ years
America is ~250 years old.
Lead pipes installed in early 1900s would still be functional today.
Now look at the UK. They still use lead sheet for roofing, as well as piping.
People have been using lead for building materials and pipes for ages. The Romans had a ton of lead stuff.
Unless your city was torn to shreds by war or was built after the 50s, you probably have some lead lines too, haha.
Suddenly everything starts to make sense.