Water pipes and policies sorely need strong repairs

Evidence continues to rapidly mount that the system of notifying Americans of elevated levels of lead or other contaminants in their drinking water falls woefully short. Consider:

In Flint, Mich., a medium-sized city once best known as the birthplace of the General Motors Corp., now rises as the epicenter of the nation’s failing water infrastructure and of the gross inadequacies in public notification of contamination. In that city, it took officials nearly a year to notify residents that their drinking water had been fouled with excessively high levels of lead and bacteria.

In Sebring village in Mahoning County, a series of unconscionable games of “Who’s on First” between village and state officials delayed notification for months of health-threatening levels of lead in that community’s water system last fall and this winter.

And in Warren in Trumbull County, as The Vindicator reported in an investigation of the city’s water system in last Sunday’s editions, city officials failed to send notices to its 20,000 customers by a Nov. 29, 2009, deadline. The notices were supposed to educate the public about lead hazards after 12 residential water tests out of 90 had lead at unacceptably high levels. Ultimately, notices were sent out as attachments in water bills that most residents likely never read.

The steady stream of deficiencies in public notification has rightly angered many, including U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th. Ryan hypothesizes that negative publicity and fallout from public knowledge of spoiled drinking water ultimately lies behind the trend of reticence in acting in the public interest.

Such fears, of course, pale in comparison to the potential adverse health effects of drinking and bathing in compromised water. Those dangers range from slight increases in blood pressure to severe retardation and even death, according to the U.S. General Accounting Office. The health dangers are particularly acute in children and pregnant women.

As U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, a hearty foot soldier in the battle for reforms in U.S. water policy, put it, “We simply can’t take chances with our children’s health, pure and simple.”

PUNISHMENT AND PROGRESS

In light of the transgressions, some punitive actions and some strategic progress has been made. In Michigan, for example, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency’s regional director has resigned, and there have been calls for the governor to step down amid a criminal investigation. In Sebring, the operator of the water treatment plant has been suspended, and in Warren, city leaders are implementing a public education and outreach program on water quality.

More, however, clearly must be done as the likelihood for more Flints, Sebrings and Warrens looms large due to the gross negligence of this nation’s aging and deteriorating underground water-distribution networks. The American Society for Civil Engineers has rated most of our drinking-water infrastructure as “nearing the end of its useful life” and replacement of the nation’s pipelines, 98 percent of which contain lead, would cost more than $1 trillion.

For starters, needless delays in alerting the public must cease. Even the Ohio EPA recognizes the dangers inherent in the current laissez-faire policies. Heidi Greismer, deputy director of communications for the OEPA, minces no words: “We obviously think there are a lot of changes that need to be made. We don’t think the current lead program is effective at protecting public health.”

That’s why guarantees of prompt, informative and very public notification to all Americans of fouled water needs to be the rule – not the exception. At the urging of state and federal EPA officials, Congress is now considering legislation to repair the current dysfunctional system.

Senate Bill 2466 would amend the safe Water Drinking Act to authorize the EPA to notify the public if a state agency and public water system are not taking prompt action to address a health risk associated with drinking water. A companion bill, SB 2535, would require deadlines for corrosion-control treatment steps for lead and copper in drinking water.

Both measures command prompt attention and action. The health and livelihoods of America’s citizens should not be sacrificed to election-year politicking and Congress’ signature do-nothing antics.

Let meaty reform in public notification of fouled water systems serve as the first of many steps in the years and decades ahead to repair and rebuild America’s shamefully neglected water infrastructure.