, Columnist
Why Does the US Still Have Lead Pipes? Blame This Trade Group
A now-defunct organization spent decades casting doubt on the science that showed just how dangerous the metal could be.
It’s about time.
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Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a ruling mandating the removal of all lead pipes supplying drinking water in the US. Whether the rule will survive the incoming Donald Trump administration is an open question — one that could have serious, even life-threatening implications for the more than nine million or so homes that get their water by “lead service lines.”
Given what we know about the dangers posed by lead-contaminated drinking water, it’s worth asking: What took so long? How is it possible that such large swaths of the US still rely on poisonous pipes?