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Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

reuters.com

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Re: Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

#51

Post by neohaven »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #45
hkmurakami wrote: post #33

It looks like California is relatively clean on this scale, but what about the Superfund sites? I feel like those are gray areas that get much less attention than I would expect. With former semiconductor fab sites and former military sites getting increasingly developed with sometimes only a few feet of topsoil removed for cleanup (plus some kind of shielding material?), and a seeming lack of hard data for long term…

Yeah, can't wait for them to try bringing manufacturing back to America. Hopefully California will shut anything like that down.

Because having it elsewhere is better?

Here we'd have the resources to hopefully make it safe(r). China doesn't give a damn about the environment.

Re: Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

#52

Post by rayiner »

JauntTrooper wrote: post #22

This is a public health disaster. It's tough to really fathom the number of children across the country that will suffer mental and behavioral problems for life because of this. Why are there not more lawsuits? Is the scope of the damage too difficult to quantify, or the negligent parties too diffuse/remote to sue? As much as our litigation-based culture is vilified, it can help spur action by changing the cost/benef…

Okay, so you sue Flint. Then what? It has no money. If it had money, it would have invested in its water infrastructure.

That's the case all over the country. When I was there, the legal clinic at Northwestern University was working on, among other things, Clean Water Act issues. They did a report on water quality--tons of municipalities in Illinois failed to meet standards. But lawsuits would have been pointless. Almost all of these are tiny municipal water utilities that have no money.

The problem is only going to get worse. Municipal budgets are in shambles and taxes will go up to make ends meet. Raising water rates--which are far too low--to pay for new infrastructure will be politically intractable.

Re: Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

#53

Post by tboyd47 »

When it comes to testing your water, some counties offer home testing services to concerned residents for free. I urge everybody with kids or thinking of having them to check your local county government's website for information. Even if the water treatment facility in your area is free of lead, the pipes in your home or neighborhood might not be.

Re: Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

#54

Post by Tempest1981 »

mdpopescu wrote: post #49
emodendroket wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any reason to think totally privatizing and deregulating utilities would be any safer.

Here's one: companies like repeat customers.

Remember PG&E and the San Bruno fire? Companies fight hard to deny liability when they harm their customers. There is no competition in many cases.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/07/27/san-bruno-blast-pge-cr...

Re: Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

#55

Post by OrwellianChild »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #46
toomuchtodo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's safe as long as the water chemistry doesn't leach the pipes. If it does, and you're not using agents in the water to stop it, you get Flint, MI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis "The Flint water crisis is a drinking water contamination issue in Flint, Michigan, United States that started in April 2014. After Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water (…

Is anyone else not totally cool with showering and drinking water with flouride, chlorine, and inhibitor chemicals? APEC Water makes a great counter-top tankless RO filtration system for $200 that takes 10 mins to install and doesn't require any permanent mounting (so it's fine to use in apartments). The only downside is that unlike filter taps with a reservoir tank, you only get the RO membrane rate of flow (~2GPH d…

What's the risk here? Fluoride helps control dental health and chlorine keeps biological contaminants at bay. These are beneficial for your health! If you really don't want chlorine in your drinking water (or don't like the taste), you can let it sit in an open container for a couple hours - it will just evaporate...

Re: Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

#56

Post by emodendroket »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #54
mdpopescu wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's one: companies like repeat customers.

Remember PG&E and the San Bruno fire? Companies fight hard to deny liability when they harm their customers. There is no competition in many cases. http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/07/27/san-bruno-blast-pge-cr...

Assuming you can even figure out you're being slowly poisoned.
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