Health Hazards in Your Home: The Hidden Dangers of Lead Pipes

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission is working to educate residents about dangerous lead pipes and how to remove and replace them for free. PHOTO: JULIA HENNING AND SANJANA MISHRA

For many parents, neighborhood safety and school destinations are the most important considerations when choosing a place to live. Yet an issue that could impact their family’s health and well-being remains unknown: a surprising number of Boston homes still receive their drinking water through lead pipes.

Although the dangers of lead exposure have the potential to affect all Boston residents, the prevalence of lead pipes is highest in predominantly low-income and minority neighborhoods.

Mazi, a Dorchester resident enrolled at Roxbury Community College, is taking precautions regarding the potential for lead pipes in her future home.

“I’m not trying to move anywhere, I know people who move into the neighborhood aren’t always told there’s lead, so I’m just being very careful and taking the extra steps to know what kind of place I’m moving into.”

Marginalized communityties have the highest incidence of lead pipes.

Mazi’s family has a history of lead exposure, so she understands the importance of navigating the housing market with lead pipes in mind.

Exposure to lead can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, along with delayed growth and development in children. According to the CDC, this can be a cause of low IQ and underachievement in school.

“I have a cousin who ended up with lead poisoning, and I know it affected his mental state and well-being, making it harder for him to learn and progress in school.”

Janelle Bruno, a mother and Charlestown resident, didn’t know the water in her faucets came from lead pipes until her 16-month-old daughter, Cecilia, tested for lead levels twice what the Center for Disease Control said. is a cause for concern at a routine doctor’s appointment.

“I bought a test kit… and it immediately showed lead levels in the water,” Bruno said.

After this discovery, Bruno went online to share her family’s story. She connected with another concerned parent, Emily Hodge, whose daughter had also tested positive for high levels of lead in her system.

The number of lead pipes is highest in predominantly low-income and minority neighborhoods. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MUCK ROCK

“She shined a light on an issue that people needed to hear about,” says B’s Hodgeruno. “And if it causes problems for children, then it is obviously a high priority.”

Boston’s water is clean at the Quabbin Reservoir and Wachusett Reservoir sources, but the continued use of outdated pipes running from main water lines to homes can lead to lead leaching into drinking water.

To combat this, the Boston Sewer and Water Commission is implementing and reviewing programs to educate citizens about the dangers of lead pipes, as well as initiatives to address the problem head-on, by removing service pipes and replacing them with safe copper ones at no cost pipes. .

“The Boston Water and Sewer Commission is trying to get property owners to replace these service lines,” said Thomas Plant, director of special projects for the Boston Public Health Commission’s Division of Environmental and Occupational Health. “If they contact them, they will receive money from the government to get a free replacement.” However, it remains a struggle to get property owners on board.

“One of the reasons that it did not happen with complete removal is that the (pipe) from the water main in the middle of the street to the residents through their foundation is private property and because they have access to it they have the right to to say no,” said Plant. “We want to make it clear to property owners that it is not necessary to connect a full pipe to their home that delivers water that may be contaminated with lead… That is no longer necessary today. We have the technology and certainly the replacement real estate services.”

“It is not mandatory for people to replace the pipe, but it is advisable,” said Tom Bagley, communications officer at the BWSC. “You don’t want lead in your pipes that water flows through.”

Understanding that some people may not opt ​​for the free pipe replacement, Bagley offers a precaution.

“We suggest that people who have a lead pipe rinse their water in the m for about 60 secondsorning to just get it flowing again. All the sediment that settled overnight just washes through.”

Kelsey Pieper, an assistant professor in Northeastern’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, works with her students to investigate how pipes can disrupt water quality. She recognizes a way homeowners can test to see if there may be lead in their pipes.

“One method is a science-based community approach where you go into your home and find out where the pipe goes into the wall and you can look at the color of the pipe to see if it’s copper, plastic or galvanized iron. ”, says Pieper. “And then you can scratch it and use a magnet and start identifying what’s coming into your house.”

“Unfortunately, you just have to do the work,” Bruno said. “You have to look, look at the map, see if there is lead, if you have copper pipes or not. If not, I would call.” Bruno was surprised when he heard how common blowjobs are. “I thought lead was outdated. I thought it was only on your windowsills and if you had an older house. So (you have to) be aware of what is there and what is going on.

This is part 1 of “Dark past, green future,” a series of articles on climate justice in collaboration with the Northeastern University School of Journalism, led by Prof. Dan Zedek.