Allentown Number One In Pennsylvania For Lead Exposure

WFMZ-TV Reports Study: Allentown tops Pennsylvania in lead exposure

I've learned there may be a couple of reasons why. Most of those results came from test results of kids on Medicaid. Normally the majority of pediatricians don't perform this test nor report to the state like the Pennsylvania run Medicaid does It follows then that most of those tested came from poorer family homes. Most of these kids are living downtown in older low rent homes. Homes that may have very old plumbing before lead lined pipes were banned in 1986.

This seems to jive with what Philly.com is reporting concerning Philadelphia properties-- "The city estimates there are about 50,000 lead service pipes leading from water mains into residences."

I have little doubt water leaving the treatment facilities complies with federal standards, but what ends up coming out of faucets could contain higher levels of lead. Allentown's mayor is pointing the finger toward older homes with chipping lead paint.

Neither theory may be entirely accurate (in so much not every kid is tested) nor that paint chips could be responsible. We simply don't have enough information. However if I were to venture a guess I'd tend to lean towards older home's plumbing being the likely culprit. Our home was built in 1927 and I found some lead pipes. All were sewage pipes. I've bypassed several of them with new PVC piping. I also feel a bit better because they no longer are leaching into Allentown's waster water treatment system then into the Lehigh River.

What I'm hoping is Allentown doesn't go off the rails before we have full and accurate information. What concerns me is Allentown having a knee jerk reaction and start inspecting and requiring home owners to do lead based paint remediation along with the associated fees when that may not be the problem.

If the city wants to be proactive before doing anything they should create a list of those homes still using lead pipes to bring the water from the street into the home. It seems to me ingesting water in a home which still has lead pipes is a lot more likely the culprit then some kid chewing or sniffing in old paint chips. Let us not put the cart before the horse till we have all the facts for the sake of political expediency.

When and if they find lead pipes (or the solder used on copper piping couplings) to be the culprit it doesn't necessarily require expensive replacement. There are whole house & point of use filter units for piping available on the market. The point of use filters cost under $400 on up to whole house filters starting at around $1,000. They can remove up to 99% of both lead and other heavy metals (like mercury). An added bonus is they also greatly reduce the trace amounts of industrial & pharmaceutical pollutants that may still remain coming into the home even if a pipe were replaced.

:There that wasn't so complicated was it?
PROBLEM SOLVED!


While We're On The Subject Of Water..
U.S. Uncut is reporting Nestle is Pumping Millions of Gallons from the Great Lakes for Free While Flint Pays For Poison-- "Residents continue to pay $864 a year for water that is making them sick... Meanwhile, less than two hundred miles away, multi-billion dollar corporation Nestle has been pumping millions of gallons out of Lake Michigan for free. In fact, they receive 13 million dollars in tax breaks to do so. Despite making over 15 billion dollars in profits in 2014.."


Yeah about that. Here's a video I made back in 2007.
Purified Drinking Water w/o The Bottles