Philadelphia's water-testing procedures ‘worse than Flint’ – expert

[Chef Eric]

From theguardian.com

Philadelphia council members revealed plans to hold hearings “concerning best practices followed by the Philadelphia Water Department” in its testing of drinking water for lead, in the wake of high lead levels in Flint, Michigan, and a Guardian report that found problems with water testing nationwide.

Dr Yanna Lambrinidou, a medical ethnographer, said that water sampling methods used by the Philadelphia water department don’t properly illustrate the level of lead in drinking water and could mask the sort of problems suffered in Flint, Michigan, where a state of emergency has been declared over the toxic, discolored water that made many residents ill.

Water testing instructions given out to Philadelphia residents include the requirement to remove the faucet’s aerator, a small filter, from the nozzle of the tap before sampling. Testers are asked to run cold water through the tap for two minutes, known as “pre-flushing”, at least six hours before the test.

In contrast to Philadelphia, water testing in Flint didn’t involve the removal of the aerator. The city did ask residents to pre-flush their taps prior to tests before scrapping the requirement last month, as the crisis reached a crescendo. The Michigan state government also ditched the pre-flushing instructions after consultation with the EPA, and the head of the Ohio EPA called modifications to tests, like those used in Philadelphia, “wrong and irresponsible”. As revealed by the Guardian, the practice of pre-flushing taps prior to water tests is prevalent across the US.

Lambrinidou said Philadelphia has spent “20 years minimizing lead levels in tests”. “Philadelphia is arguably worse than Flint in the testing of drinking water because they use pre-flushing, the removal of the aerator and the slow flow of water into bottles, which can also distort the result,” she told the Guardian. “It’s irresponsible, it’s immoral and it’s putting people’s lives at risk. It misleads the public into thinking they will be OK with corrosion control treatment. But the sampling is missing the worst-case lead, so treatment isn’t geared properly towards the correct level of it.”

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/28/philadelphia-water-testing-crisis-flint-health-risk

[JPZenger]

1. Pollutants can be picked up from old lines, laterals and pipes inside your house

The Feds regulate the water quality as it leaves the water plant, but many old water lines, laterals into your home and pipes within your home can result in pollutants. For instance, many water lines used lead solder. Everyone should let their tap run for 30 seconds before using tap water for drinking water. If you have kids, you probably should invest in a water filtration device attached to your kitchen sink, of a type that can filter out lead.

I live in an old house, and I've seen what the inside of the water pipes looked like inside my house when I replaced some, and what the water mains in the street looked like when they were replaced. It was amazing that any water could get through them.

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm