Why isn’t there more concern about 100 percent lead pipes remaining in the infrastructure of some U.S. cities?
Again, the public health issue is what is leached into the water. In the case of lead pipes, a thin biofilm has coated those pipes over decades of use, preventing a major catastrophe. Water chemistry is also carefully controlled in those areas, preventing dangerous levels of lead from entering the drinking water system. The potentially bigger question, however, is why our nation’s water delivery infrastructure has not received the same scrutiny as faucets. Said differently, why are there regulations on faucets — which contain trace amounts of lead, but no corresponding legislation to safeguard drinking water from contaminants leached from lead piping? The answer is probably this: In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that it would cost $276.8 billion and take more than 20 years to replace all the existing lead pipes.
