CDC: 15,000 Washington, D.C. homes may have dangerous levels of lead in water

Water in thousands of homes in Washington, D.C. may still contain high levels of lead, years after it was thought that D.C.’s lead crisis was over, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

A CDC report released earlier this month says that children in nearly 15,000 homes where lead pipes had been partially replaced were more than three times as likely to have high lead levels than those living in homes that never had lead pipes. The report states that partial replacement of lead service lines with copper, a $100 million D.C. project that began in 2004 and ended in 2008, did not decrease the risk of high blood lead levels. 

The CDC report comes seven months after a congressional report found that the federal health agency knowingly used flawed data to come to the false conclusion that lead levels in the water were safe in a 2004 report.

Lead is a toxic metal that can cause irreversible brain damage and developmental delays in children.  It can be especially harmful to fetuses and infants, and is known to lower IQ levels. 

The CDC report states that “no safe blood level threshold has been identified for children,” despite the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level for lead in water is 15 parts per billion.

Some of the symptoms of lead poisoning also mimic some of the symptoms of autism, such as learning difficulties, loss of interest in play, hyperactivity, being easily distracted, impulsiveness, aggressiveness, poor coordination, weakness in hands and feet, and seizures.

High levels of lead were measured in D.C. water from 2001 to 2004 after the city changed the way it disinfected the water supply in 2000.   The city had been using chlorine to treat water, but officials changed the treatment disinfectant to chloramine after the EPA mandated in 1998 that water treatment systems reduce carcinogenic byproducts that occur from the use of chlorine.

Beginning in 2004, D.C. officials began to replace public lead water pipes with copper pipes, but left lead pipes that were privately owned untouched. When water flows through copper pipes connected to lead pipes, lead can leach out of the pipes into the water. 

The disinfectants the city used to treat the water at various stages impacted the corrosiveness of pipes differently.  In 2004, orthophosphate was added to chloramine, which reduced lead corrosion somewhat but not completely.

Making the problem worse was that both D.C. officials and the CDC downplayed the problem, and a House investigation last May determined that CDC misled the public about the safety of the water. 

Last June, CDC admitted that it mishandled its response to the lead crisis in its 2004 report, and issued the following statement:  “In our urgency to rapidly assess the situation and protect the public's health, the CDC communicated our scientific results poorly and did not convey our conclusions and recommendations clearly.”

The December 2010 CDC report states that “residents of properties where plumbing work has been done,including partial replacement of lead service lines, should take precautions such as using bottled or filtered water until they are sure that the water lead levels are below the EPA action level of 15 ppb.”

The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) issued a press release reaffirming its commitment to public health and stated that the CDC report validated DC Water’s decision to discontinue the lead line replacement program in 2008.  DC Water acknowledged that the program may have caused a “temporary spike in lead levels.”

D.C. citizens can call DC Water at 202-354-3600 to find whether their homes have had a partial lead replacement or to request testing.

Nationwide, people can call their water supplier or purchase a lead testing kit and filtration system at a hardware store.

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