From Clean Water Action and partners:
Clean Water Action and our allies at NRDC, EWG, and CalPirg have been working on lead for a number of years, but the State Water Board’s staff has been loath to admit that Californians can be exposed to unsafe levels of lead via leaded connectors and galvanized pipes that are (or at one time were) downstream of leaded materials. While we do not have a plethora of actual lead pipes compared to other states, these materials are extremely problematic, demonstrated by recent studies finding schools and child care centers providing water with unsafe lead levels to children.
The Board has failed to collect comprehensive information about how much of this lead or lead tainted material is out there and lost millions of federal funding as a result. This is part of a culture at the Board to cater to water systems who want to downplay lead and other toxic issues. And there is no reason for it at this time given that federal funding will pay for the removal of these materials.
Fortunately, the Feds are giving CA another chance to provide information about the extent of lead in our systems serving the public. The attached letter is from a diverse group of organizations calling on the Water Board to stop putting its head in the sand, provide a comprehensive needs assessment for lead removal in CA, get the federal funds and use it to protect California’s people.
CA WB LSLR 09282023-1
