Capitol from Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Court, Washington, DC
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In common with the situation in most other major cities in the eastern United States, lead in the local water supply has been a concern in Washington, DC for the past half century. Lead pipes and lead welds on water supply pipes made of other materials created a potential hazard for those consuming the water, especially for growing children. Over the past two decades there was a massive effort to reduce lead in the water supply. Now it is reported that effort was inadequate to reduce lead levels in about 15,000 residences. The deleterious effects of lead on the bodies and brains of those who are exposed to it in drinking water are numerous and profound, and there is a great concern about what this discovery may mean for those children living in the residences where lead levels remain high. An article in press expresses both the problems and the levels of hazard in Washington, DC (Brown, M.J., et al., Association between children’s blood lead levels, lead service lines, and water disinfection, Washington, DC, 1998–2006. Environ. Res. (2010), doi:10.1016/j.envres.2010.10.003).
