WisconsinWatch.org (https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/lead/)
Funding for childhood lead poisoning prevention is down in Wisconsin, and proposals to better protect children from lead in drinking water have stalled in the Legislature.
The city of Milwaukee, with more than 70,000 lead service lines, has taken several steps in the past year to lower residents’ exposure to lead in drinking water, but activists say the city has not done enough.
Gaps in federal drinking water standards enforced by the state leave numerous school and day care sites untested for lead in drinking water; numerous lead service lines remain.
Eighteen communities in Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, plan to replace lead lines leading to schools and day care centers. View the areas of the state where the work is planned.
Nine months after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned against flushing water systems before testing for lead, the state DNR had not passed that advice on to public water systems in Wisconsin. Our story examined that delay.
Nine months after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned against flushing water systems before testing for lead, the state Department of Natural Resources has not yet passed that advice on to public water systems in Wisconsin.
A look at some of the facts and figures behind lead in our drinking water
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett acknowledges adding anti-corrosive chemicals, the main strategy to prevent lead in drinking water, is a “Band-Aid” approach.
The state Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday it will target low-income areas with $11.8 million in new grants to replace aging pipes made of lead that supply water to homes.
The water at Fox Lake and Waupun Correctional Institutions is tainted with lead and copper. Officials say they are complying with federal standards, but some inmates and staff question whether it is safe.
Two Democratic lawmakers want the state Department of Health Services to investigate drinking water as a possible source when children are lead poisoned. The proposal also greatly lowers the blood lead levels that would trigger an investigation.
The Madison Water Utility was the first major utility in the nation to demonstrate that a full replacement of both the public and the private portions of lead service lines was possible.