DC drinking water needs more monitoring for lead, audit finds

The greatest risk of lead exposure is to infants, young children, and pregnant women. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

D.C. Water isn’t doing all that could be done to reduce lead levels in the District’s drinking water, according to an audit by the city’s Office of Inspector General.

While “The District has made considerable improvements since 2001 when the District suffered a crisis of elevated lead levels in the drinking water,” the audit found D.C. Water’s records indicate 79% of the water service lines on customers’ property are made of unknown material.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency agree there is no safe level of lead in a child’s blood. The greatest risk of lead exposure is to infants, young children and pregnant women.

Even though the EPA has set the maximum contaminant level goal for lead in drinking water at zero, it established the Lead and Copper Rule, which requires water utilities monitor the effectiveness of corrosion control to detect whether the levels of lead in drinking water are at or below 15 parts per billion. If they exceed 15 ppb, action must be taken to comply with the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act.

The District’s drinking water is supplied by […]

Full article: DC drinking water needs more monitoring for lead, audit finds

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