Lead is Still in Our Pipes
What is Lincoln doing to combat lead in the pipes?
Lincoln has been facing concerns addressing certain home hazards for a while and recently was awarded $1 million from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to enhance their initiative. The $1 million will be distributed to 42 homes that have households considered to be low income, expecting children, disabled or those who are at or above the age of 62 years old. Each home will receive a maximum limit of $12,000 for home improvements that will address health and safety hazards such as ventilation, clean water, proper equipment, handrails, electrical deficiencies and sanitation. Lead Safe Lincoln Program will work with the grant to have complete home improvements.
Lead Safe Lincoln is an initiative that started in 2022 to replace all lead-contaminated service lines by 2035. Lead-contaminated water often affects homes that were built before 1950 or businesses built before 1930. Retired health director, Pat Lopez, stated that in the community, 3,000 children — ages one through six — are tested for lead each year and of those 3,000 children 100 have elevated blood lead levels. More testing should be done and continued effort should be placed on preventing lead from entering the body. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have concluded that “there is no known safe level of lead in a child's blood.” As of 2021, there are around 9.2 million homes affected by lead pipes. Six states with the most lead pipelines and over 50 percent of lead-contaminated service lines are Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and New York. Thankfully, Nebraska does not have as many lead-contaminated service lines.
Lead is an element that might never be eliminated from human contact since it is natural and abundant. The federal government didn’t ban lead-based paint until 1978 and lead-based printer ink wasn’t banned until 1986. Controversy arose when federal regulators were looking for ways to remove books made before 1986. Some libraries took the expensive initiative to test children's books for lead contamination.
by Stuart Cuateco