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Narrator: Exposure to lead can cause harmful health impacts.
As long as there are lead sources, like lead pipes, in our communities, there will be risks
to our children.
Reducing lead exposure is a priority for EPA and our partners at state and local levels.
There are several ways exposure to lead can happen.
In addition to drinking water, exposure can happen from old, peeling lead paint and lead-contaminated
soil and dust.
In June 1986, drinking water pipes that were not lead-free were banned, but before that
time, lead was used in the pipes that connect homes to the water main in the street.
These pipes can be expensive to replace, and what many don't know is that homeowners
are often partially responsible for them.
Parts of the pipes are on public property because they are under the street, and parts
of the pipes are on private property where they connect to homes.
In most cases, water pipes that are on private property are the homeowners' responsibility.
Replacing the entire lead pipe is a critical step to helping reduce potential lead exposure
through drinking water.
And it's important for all of us to be thinking creatively about how to make replacing them
more practical for municipalities and homeowners, and safe for our families.
The cities of North Providence, Rhode Island and Claremont, New Hampshire are two communities
using creative solutions to get the lead out of their drinking water.
Mayor Lombardi: A few years back when I read what was happening in Flint, Michigan, I thought
it would be the right thing to do a little investigating as to what their cause was,
what happened there and then talk with the individuals at Providence Water here.
And I thought if we identified, you know, those lead pipe connections that maybe we
could seek some funding and try to help out some of the homeowners.
Mayor Lovett: There is no safe level of lead, that's been documented many, many times
through the science and scientific material.
So, if we are really committed to prevention of childhood lead poisoning the best approach
is to remove it completely from the water distribution system.
Fortunately, for Claremont we have excellent historical records in regard to our water
distribution system and we've used that as the foundation for identifying those pipes
that may be lead-lined.
Narrator: Claremont started a program to help off-set lead pipe replacement costs for homeowners
by using city staff to pull out the pipes saving homeowners thousands of dollars.
North Providence received Community Development Block Grant funding from HUD to replace privately-owned
lead pipes.
Working with their water utility North Providence learned the locations of the lead pipes and
then the city started reaching out to their residents.
Mayor Lombardi: We had a very, very well attended meeting at one of the schools and explained
to everyone how we could help them, if they applied, and we notified
those people that had a lead pipe connection.
Providence Water has all that on record.
So, we visited those people, they had to meet the right criteria and we replaced some 70
services so far.
Mayor Lovett: So, through operation "Get the lead out" we're committed to removing
the barriers.
The only thing that the home owner has to do is pay for the plumber to have the service
line, once it's installed, connected to the home.
The key to our success in Claremont has been collaboration.
We can't do it alone.
You need both the leadership in the community to be on board, but you need the public to
be on board so that they will be receptive to accessing all of these tools that we are
trying to offer to address the situation in their homes and in their water systems.
Mayor Lombardi: You read some of the health issues that lead could cause and my concern
is longevity for the quality of drinking water for the children.
So at least now those properties that we are addressing, those children, their children
and their children will never ever have to worry about their drinking water.
Narrator: We hope that focusing on successful lead pipe replacement cases demonstrated by
North Providence and Claremont, will help spark some ideas for other communities to
reduce lead exposure from drinking water.
And we can all work together towards getting the lead out of drinking water.
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