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Shorten lead notification times, OEPA chief urges
YOUNGSTOWN
Notification time frames need to be drastically shortened for people whose homes show elevated lead levels in their water, the director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said, as the Sebring water lead emergency appeared to be abating.
There also needs to be a national debate about replacement of lead-service connections and pipes within residences, Craig W. Butler, OEPA director, said Wednesday from his office in Columbus.
Under current federal law, notification time frames are 30 days to the individual homeowner and 60 days where a communitywide notification is required, Butler said.
Those notification time periods need to be reduced nationally to “a few days,” he said.
“The least we can do, I think, is make sure we get them that data as quickly as possible,” he added.
The most beneficial and permanent way to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water would be to replace lead-service connections from the street and to replace pipes and fixtures containing lead within homes over the long term, Butler said.
That is expensive, even at the individual level, Butler conceded.
“Removing those sources is your best option,” he said.
Second best is treating water with anti-corrosive agents to reduce leaching of lead from pipes into the water, he said.
“I think you have to do both, but we’ve obviously focused all of our national attention on the water side, and have not yet had a national dialogue that I think we need to have about removal of lead fixtures and piping,” Butler said.
Asked who should pay for that removal, he replied: “I don’t know.”
Asked if it’s financially feasible for government to pay for such removal, especially for low-income homeowners, he replied: “That is a national level dialogue that needs to take place.”
ALL SAMPLES GOOD
All 54 water samples collected from 53 homes since the Ohio EPA required Sebring to continue to offer testing of residential water Jan. 21, tested below the federal allowable level of 15 parts per billion, a Wednesday OEPA news release said.
The tap-water samples were taken from homes whose owners asked for the tests, the agency said.
“The broad, general population within the village and the water system should have confidence in their water,” Butler told The Vindicator by telephone, noting that no detectable lead is leaving the Sebring system’s treatment plant.
These new results from the village follow extensive testing conducted by Ohio EPA in late January that showed improving water conditions in the village after elevated levels were found in last year’s tests.
Village Manager Richard D. Giroux previously said he believed the lead found in earlier water samples came from leaching of lead into the water from service connections and pipes within homes and businesses.
The Ohio EPA said it has been working with the village to fine-tune its water-system chemistry to minimize leaching of lead into the water from residential piping.
Butler and his staff have met with Sebring officials to discuss short- and long-term goals for the water system.
Additionally, Ohio EPA representatives accompanied technical experts from the U.S. EPA to evaluate the water treatment facilities and to discuss with the village and its consultant additional treatment adjustment to reduce corrosion in lead pipes of older homes.
U.S. SENATOR’S PROPOSAL
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, will introduce a measure this week that would require the U.S. EPA to notify local residents when lead contamination is detected in their public drinking-water supply system within 15 days, if state and local authorities fail to do so.
The senator’s office said the Senate also is expected to vote on the measure this week.
“No parent should ever have to worry if water coming out of their faucets might be poisoning their children,” the senator said during a media teleconference Wednesday.
Currently, state and local officials are responsible for public notification, which the senator said they failed to do in a timely manner concerning lead contamination in the Sebring and Flint, Mich., public water-supply systems.
“There’s nothing more important for government to do than preserve the safety and health of children,” Brown said.
In addition to swift notification, Brown’s bill would require:
Communities to have a plan in place to fix the lead problem within six months, not the current 18 months.
A plan to ensure community residents have access to safe, clean water in the interim.
That the U.S. EPA make annual state water quality reports available online in a single, user-friendly place.
Free Bottled Water
Free emergency bottled water distribution continues in Sebring from 2 to 7 p.m. today, from 7 a.m. to noon Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Sebring Community Center, 305 W. Texas Ave., with recipients having to show proof they live in, or have a business in, the Sebring public water system’s service area.
Only one of 33 people tested in a Monday blood lead-level screening clinic in Sebring had an elevated lead level, according to the county health board.
The elevated level means the child had 5 micrograms or more of lead per deciliter of blood, said Christopher Cunningham, the BOH nursing director.