The Editorial Board: Senate bill forgoes the best chance to fix the lead pipe threat once and for all | Editorial

It seems doubtful. Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, an impartial group of business leaders pushing for environmental investments like the removal of lead pipes, was blunt: “It doesn’t go far enough,” he said, citing several studies that have shown it takes becomes $ 45 billion. The Natural Resources Defense Council agrees with this figure. But the American Water Works Association estimates the total cost to be more than $ 60 billion.

We know the price of bad water. It can be seen in the Flint, Michigan health disaster in 2014. The same goes for Washington, DC, which suffered from high levels of lead in 2001, while Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania battled its water pollution in 2016.

It was also seen in Buffalo, where the Brown government has been aggressively trying to replace pipes leading to the poorest homes for the past five years. As early as 2016, the city set its own management standard and issued stricter standards than the federal government.

Oluwole A. McFoy, chairman of the Buffalo Water Board, stated in April that Buffalo was the first city in the country to go beyond the mandate of the federal government. At that time, 400 lead pipes were replaced.

While wealthy families can buy bottled water or install filtered systems in their homes, it is a workaround that urban or rural America, or those with lower incomes, cannot – and should – not afford.