On April 29, US President Joe Biden gave his first address to Congress. Early in his speech, he identified lead water pipes as a “clear and present threat” to American public health and announced a 100 percent replacement of lead water pipes found in 10 million US households and 400,000 schools and daycare centers as a major part of America’s Job Plan so that every American has safe drinking water.
Here in Canada, all levels of government must seriously address the levels of lead in our drinking water.
In 2019, Health Canada announced new guidelines for lead exposure. The results were unsettling. Lead concentrations in drinking water “should be kept as low as possible because exposure to lead is inherently unsafe and has serious health consequences”, especially for children and expectant mothers.
Since these new guidelines were announced, many Canadian cities have taken steps to help homeowners replace lead-water pipe connections from their basements to urban property lines. Halifax, Calgary, and others have launched discount, loan, grant, and incentive programs for lead water pipe replacement costs that can go as high as $ 4,000 per property. Winnipeg doesn’t have.
Winnipeg has 23,000 homes with lead plumbing connections to the city’s main waterline. There are 2,755 of these homes in the Elmwood-East Kildonan area. If you live in a house that was built before 1950, you likely have these tap water pipe connections to the main line.
If you are not sure what type of water pipes you have, you can call the city on 311. Winnipeg has an inventory of homes and public buildings, including schools and day care centers, that have lead-water pipes, and they provide property owners with the information.
This is a health problem that requires decisive government action. The province must take the clear initiative to immediately contact all homeowners in Manitoba with lead water mains attached and fully fund lead water pipeline replacement to ensure access to clean water and exposure to lead and its constituents are health risks are being eliminated.
If you have any questions about provincial programs, please feel free to contact me at 204-415-1122 or email [email protected]
On April 29, US President Joe Biden gave his first address to Congress. Early in his speech, he identified lead water pipes as a “clear and present threat” to American public health and announced a 100 percent replacement of lead water pipes found in 10 million US households and 400,000 schools and daycare centers as a major part of America’s Job Plan so that every American has safe drinking water.
Here in Canada, all levels of government must seriously address the levels of lead in our drinking water.
In 2019, Health Canada announced new guidelines for lead exposure. The results were unsettling. Lead concentrations in drinking water “should be kept as low as possible because exposure to lead is inherently unsafe and has serious health consequences”, especially for children and expectant mothers.
Since these new guidelines were announced, many Canadian cities have taken steps to help homeowners replace lead-water pipe connections from their basements to urban property lines. Halifax, Calgary, and others have launched discount, loan, grant, and incentive programs for lead water pipe replacement costs that can go as high as $ 4,000 per property. Winnipeg doesn’t have.
Winnipeg has 23,000 homes with lead plumbing connections to the city’s main waterline. There are 2,755 of these homes in the Elmwood-East Kildonan area. If you live in a house that was built before 1950, you likely have these tap water pipe connections to the main line.
If you are not sure what type of water pipes you have, you can call the city on 311. Winnipeg has an inventory of homes and government buildings, including schools and daycare centers, that have lead-water plumbing, and they provide property owners with the information.
This is a health problem that requires decisive government action. The province must take the clear initiative to immediately contact all homeowners in Manitoba with lead water mains attached and fully fund lead water pipeline replacement to ensure access to clean water and exposure to lead and its constituents are health risks are being eliminated.
If you have any questions about provincial programs, please feel free to contact me at 204-415-1122 or email [email protected]
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