Chicago has fallen dangerously short of meeting federal rules requiring that the city notify its residents and property owners to the risk of lead contamination in their drinking water.
According to an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago officials were given a Nov. 16, 2024, deadline to warn approximately 900,000 renters, homeowners and landlords in properties built before 1986 about the contamination risk. But as of this month, the city only notified 7% of the people who were supposed to be alerted.
Furthermore, federal law requires water systems to mail the warning each year until the city’s lead pipes are completely replaced. Megan Vidis, a spokesperson for the Department of Water Management, said the city mails about 3,000 letters each week, at the cost of about $8,500 a month. Vidis added city officials asked the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for more time to make its notifications, but no extension was granted.
A 2024 study determined two-thirds of Chicago children under 6 years old live in homes with tap water containing detectable levels of lead. Around 412,000 of the city’s roughly 490,000 service lines are at least partly made of lead or may be contaminated with it, the highest level of any American city. But the city doesn’t plan to finish replacing them for another 50 years — 30 years later than the federal requirement for completing this project.
No wonder Barrack Hussain Obama moved to Martha’s Vinyard.
Big Mike has room to run.
GIVE CHICAGO AND OTHER NORTHERN BLUE CITIES TO CANADA.
Trump has reduced pollution laws, which will allow many more pollutants into the air, soils, water, and food. He did this during his first term, and he is doing it again.
I notice that Robert F. Kennedy is NOT attacking Trump about increasing pollution levels in all areas, yet he is gloating about eliminating red dye from foods?
Give me a break. The big pollution items are getting worse under Trump, not better.
It’s a bit of a game. What are the standards? One party demands higher standards, when the other says statistics indicate fewer are actually helped, compared to expense involved, they are accused of killing people. An example would be arsenic. Fewer than 10 deaths per year, yet water systems across the nation have to pay millions to meet new standards.