Health & Society

EPA’s Move to Overhaul Lead Water Testing Will Help Cities, Says Syracuse Professor

Thursday, October 10, 2019, By Daryl Lovell

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it will be revamping the “Lead and Copper Rule” which is used as test to identify unsafe lead levels in public water systems.

Christa Kelleher, assistant professor of earth sciences and civil engineering at Syracuse University, says the agency’s move is a huge step in the right direction. She also provided these comments when the city of Newark faced a water crisis involving lead contamination earlier this summer.

Kelleher says:

“This proposal from the EPA makes a strong commitment to increasing information access for homeowners, with the goals to rapidly notify residents of high lead levels and to document the prevalence and location of lead service lines. By lowering the level of lead in water that triggers an investigation from utilities, there is great potential to identify emerging problems in water treatment or infrastructure. This will enable utilities, state officials, and even homeowners to act before these problems grow to the scale of whole communities.

“The proposed strengthening of this federal regulation is a huge step in the right direction for protecting public health across the nation.”

 

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