Flint’s drinking water crisis has brought more attention to the issue of lead in drinking water. Mae Wu, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council says a big national effort is needed to eliminate the risk.
Wu argues in her post on the NRDC’s Switchboard Blog that lead water lines need to be replaced. She acknowledges that would be a big, expensive project.
A lack of corrosion control was blamed for lead contamination in Flint’s drinking water. But Wu says even if corrosion control is done, it doesn’t guarantee that lead won’t get into the water. That’s why she says lead service lines should be removed.
Wu says that would take about $1-trillion over at least a decade. But she says the issues of water safety and the infrastructure that carries drinking water is getting greater attention.
