EPA Gives Chicago Decades to Replace Lead Pipes, Leaving Communities at Risk

On Oct. 8, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released their new Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), which will require almost all communities to replace all lead service lines within the next 10 years. Chicago, the city with the most lead service lines in the country, is one of the exceptions. Starting in 2027, the city has approximately 20 years to replace their lead service lines. 

Chicago differs from most other U.S. cities in the sheer scale of its problem and therefore received an extended timeline. Up until the federal ban on lead service lines in 1986, Chicago city code required homes to install lead pipes. The city has approximately 400,000 lead service lines; New York City has around 100,000.  

Residents on the South Side are disproportionately impacted by lead service lines. 

According to southeast Chicago resident Gina Ramirez, her community faces multiple other environmental justice issues. This part of the city has higher levels of air pollution than other parts of the city. It also has manganese-contaminated soil, according to city officials. In Ramirez’s neighborhood alone, there are two Superfund sites: the Acme Steel Coke Plant, which emitted cyanide and mercury into the water and soil, and the Schroud Property Site, which contains big mounds of steel production waste containing lead, manganese, chromium and other heavy metals. 

“I’m impatient,” she said. “I have a 10-year-old who’s been drinking filtered water for 10 years. I have a new child. Even 20 years is ridiculous. One of my kids will be 30, my other kid will be 20, and that’s when they’ll be able to stick a cup under the faucet and not worry about it. It’s too long.”

If the city began Jan. 1, 2027, and only worked on weekdays, they would need to change out approximately 73 lead service lines per day to change them all by the end of 2047. According to Randy Conner, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Water Management, lead service line replacement can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000 per residence. While some homeowners may meet income requirements to get their service line replaced for free, many residents need to pay out of pocket. 

But there is an issue larger than cost looming over Chicago’s lead service line replacements in some communities. There are two relevant parts to lead service lines—the public lines, which run under sidewalks and streets, and the private lines, which run under front yards and basements into residences and businesses. 

Under the new LCRI, all water systems must replace lines under their control, which the EPA defines as “wherever the system has access (e.g., legal access, physical access).” In most cases, a city needs permission from an owner to change out the service line under private property, and the new rule states that cities must try to contact property owners at least four times, and then must continually inform them of the presence of the lead service line thereafter. Partial replacements, meaning just changing out the public side, are mostly prohibited, and do not count toward a city’s replacement rate. Granting city officials access to their spaces is going to be a tough sell for some residents. 

Don’t Trust the Tap Water

Ramirez grew up in a house with a lead service line. Her parents drank and even made coffee with bottled water. Ramirez said many residents in southeast Chicago do not trust their tap water and many never have. At the grocery store, Ramirez sees her neighbors with carts full of bottled water.

“It wasn’t until recently that I kind of realized maybe I shouldn’t even be washing bottles for my child with unfiltered water,” she said. “It’s like this unknown, subconscious thing in the neighborhood that none of us trust our taps, and it’s not something we talk about. There are a lot of people who are desensitized to it.”

According to the EPA, children under 6 are most at risk for lead exposure, which can contribute to “lowered IQ, damage to the brain and nervous system, learning and behavioral difficulties, slowed growth, hearing problems, and headaches.” Adults, too, can suffer from “reproductive problems (in both men and women), high blood pressure and hypertension, nerve disorders, memory and concentration problems, and muscle and joint pain.”

Ramirez said that many residents are not even aware they have lead pipes. Residents can look up their address to see if lead is present on a website developed by the city, but, as Ramirez told Inside Climate News, not all residents have been informed of why they should care.

“There’s not a lot of education that folks get about the impacts of lead. I don’t think a lot of folks know that there is no safe level of lead. You hear a lot about lead paint, but not a lot about drinking lead, which is just as bad as lead paint,” Ramirez said. “We live at this freshwater source, Lake Michigan, and we tout ourselves for this 11-step purification process, but we fail to mention the most important step is that this beautiful, clean, fresh water goes through a lead straw.”

Bridges // Puentes, a nonprofit advocacy group based in southeast Chicago, has been attempting to fill a gap in water education. Co-founder Vanessa Bly explained how the group hosts events, like sip and paint gatherings, and while people are painting, organizers educate residents about lead in their water.

“The first time that we had a group of people in a room and we told them about it, their eyes all bugged out,” she said. “We’ve been working on raffling off and giving away as many filters as possible. We gave away like 50 of them last Christmas with Santa. Santa dropped off water filters to people’s houses.”

“With presents,” she added. 

“There’s not a lot of education that folks get about the impacts of lead. I don’t think a lot of folks know that there is no safe level of lead.”

— Gina Ramirez, southeast Chicago resident

Bridges // Puentes received funding for the filters from the National Resources Defense Council. Under the new LCRI, cities will need to provide residents who have lead-contaminated water with filters. 

“We already distribute filters when doing work in an area or when a residence tests over the EPA Action Level,” Megan Vidis, a spokesperson for the Chicago’s Department of Water Management, wrote in response to Inside Climate News’ questions. 

Bly hopes Chicago will prioritize changing lead service lines on overburdened communities like the Southeast Side. 

“There are plenty of other communities that maybe will get it first, because it’s easier to knock out, but we’re the ones most heavily hurt,” she said. 

Who Pays?

Replacing lead service lines is invasive. On the private side, it often requires tearing up front lawns and breaking the foundation of basements. Although these are temporary consequences—which are fixed by the city after the line is replaced—Ramirez knows that many community members are not keen on allowing city officials into their private dwellings. 

“It’s a really poor neighborhood. People might have illegal apartments in their basement, or a lot of family members living there. There’s this sense of over-policing,” Ramirez said. “People live amongst things that are harmful to their health but are afraid of other secondary consequences.”

Bly says the issue is twofold. Residents, who may have fears of deportation, need to know their residency status will not be impacted by a city employee entering their home. Additionally, information needs to be clearly communicated. Over a quarter of households on the South Side speak a primary language other than English. Information about the harms of lead service lines needs to be widespread and accessible.

Bly said that a promise for amnesty could potentially incentivize community members to grant access to their homes. 

“There needs to be some kind of clear safety for them,” she said.

In an email to Inside Climate News, city spokesperson Megan Vidis wrote that none of the water management department’s programs include inquiries about immigration status.

“We do not perform ‘inspections’ related to Building Code or immigration status in any of our programs. Our department purifies and pumps water to residents as well as maintaining the infrastructure necessary to do so,” she wrote.

In 2021, Illinois passed a state law requiring smaller utilities to place lead service lines within 15 years. It granted Chicago 50. Since then, Chicago has been slowly chipping away; as of December 2023, they’ve replaced just shy of 4,000. The EPA’s final rule improvements, which give Chicago 20 years, is a huge difference from the rule proposal submitted in December 2023, which suggested sticking to the Illinois proposal and giving Chicago 40 to 50 years. 

“We are grateful that Chicago is on the expedited timeline, because we know there’s no, like, safe level of lead,” said Chakena Perry, a senior policy advocate at the National Resources Defense Council. “The longer these lead pipes stay in our grounds, the longer more children are going to be exposed and be dealing with emotional and behavioral issues, the more adults are going to deal with cardiovascular issues, sometimes resulting in deaths, and more mothers dealing with maternal health issues that are impacting their fetuses, or the learning and behavioral trajectory of their young children.”

Advocates like Perry have a few suggestions for the city as it goes about achieving its new goal. She says that the water utility, not the ratepayer, should pay to change out the lines. The city also needs to improve its community outreach; she noted that residents are more likely to consent to a replacement if they are aware of the health impacts. Additionally, many residents are renters, and do not currently have the power to authorize lead service line replacement. As it stands in Chicago, only the homeowner does. Newark, New Jersey, recently passed a “right to entry law that grants any individual living in the home the right to grant contractors entry to replace lead pipes. 

In the meantime, Bly hopes that the city continues educating residents on the harmful health effects of lead. 

“I want to see a public service announcement pop up on Netflix or Hulu during my commercials,” Bly said.

For Ramirez, replacing lead service lines is a time-sensitive way to begin repairing the extensive environmental health damage brought upon her community. 

“This is a public health concern, so we shouldn’t be dragging our feet on it,” she said. “If other cities are replacing their lead service lines in five to 10 years, and Chicago is still lagging behind, that’s not equitable. They should prioritize Chicago to get these out as fast as possible, especially in the south and west sides of Chicago. There’s a huge life expectancy gap between the north and south sides of 20 years.” According to U.S. Census data, some communities on the north side have life expectancy rates of an average of 87.3 years. In some neighborhoods on the south side, that number is closer to 67.

“This is one of the easier fixes for environmental justice communities,” she said. “You get your lead service line replaced, and then you’re good to go. It’s unlike holding facilities accountable to lower their air emissions, or taking 10 years to excavate a Superfund site.”

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