From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):
We stopped using lead-based paint in 1978. We started phasing out leaded gasoline even earlier than that. We knew about the severe developmental harm it can cause in growing children — and the kidney damage and more it can cause in adults — and we didn’t want it in our homes or in our air.
So why do so many people still have to drink water that comes from lead-bearing pipes?
Even the limited available data paints a grim picture: More than 18 million people get their drinking water from systems that violated federal rules for lead in 2015 alone.1
Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=28001 and tell Senators Toomey and Casey: Get the lead out of our drinking water.
The only way to make sure our drinking water is safe is to get rid of the old, lead-bearing pipes that can contaminate it. That’s a big project, and many communities around the country simply don’t have the money for it.
But the quality of our drinking water is worth investing in. That’s why we support the Contaminant and Lead Electronic Accounting and Reporting Requirements (CLEARR) for Drinking Water Act, which will provide federal funds for communities to get the lead out when they can’t afford to do it themselves. It will also direct the Environmental Protection Agency to require public reporting of lead testing results and put in place stronger inspection requirements for repeat offenders.2
Tell Sens. Toomey and Casey: Support the CLEARR Act.
We’ve known for decades that lead contamination is a threat to our health. Lead-bearing pipes need to go the way of lead-based paint. Our health depends on it.
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Sara Ganim, “5,300 U.S. water systems are in violation of lead rules,” CNN, June 29, 2016.
- Marsha Heller, “IL Senators introduce safe water drinking bill,” KFVS12, July 11, 2018.
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