All Mahoning, Trumbull water suppliers provide maps to state about lead levels

WARREN

Every public water supplier in Mahoning and Trumbull counties apparently provided the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency with a publicly available map showing whether homes on specific streets are at greater risk than others for lead in their drinking water.

In fact, according to the website where the maps can be viewed – only 18 of 1,878 water systems in Ohio failed to turn in such a map by Friday. The deadline was Thursday.

The maps are a requirement of a state law enacted in June, after lead levels rose in Sebring and Flint, Mich., causing a health scare. The maps show areas known to contain or likely to contain lead-service lines. Having lead-service lines increases the chances that a high level of lead will come out of the faucet in a home.

But Joe Tovarnak, water superintendent for Campbell, said he doesn’t believe the lead level in any of the drinking water in Campbell is elevated because of the high pH level of the water coming out of the treatment plant, despite the high percentage of lead-service lines in Campbell.

After the Sebring crisis, Campbell tested its schools and other random locations and “our lead level was very low,” he said.

When pH levels are high, the pipes acquire a layer of scale on the inside that protects the water from coming in contact with the lead in the pipes. Contact with the lead “leaches” it from the pipes and delivers it into a faucet, Tovavnak said.

Lead can cause serious health problems if too much enters a person’s body through drinking water or other sources, the EPA says. It can cause damage to the brain and kidneys and poses the greatest risk to infants, young children and pregnant women.

Scientists have linked the effects of lead on the brain with lowered IQ in children. Adults with kidney problems and high blood pressure are more at risk than other adults, the EPA says.

Read more about the matter in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.