“The city has spent millions to replace pipes contributing to the problem, including in 365 daycare centers, but the PowerPoint says that limitations at the state level, including “rigid” laws, prevent a city from launching a massive capital improvement project to get rid of them all at once.”This statement once again illustrate the double talk by Milwaukee city officials. The notion officials at the city are trying to portray here is that the city has been replacing full lead service lines and has spent millions of dollars doing it. This is completely inaccurate.
The city has spent money partially removing lead lines on the city side of the curb, leaving lead lines connecting to the homes in the owner side intact. These partial lead line removals have caused city residents more harm than good.
By removing the city side of the lead pipe, the partial lead line removal has caused disturbance of the lead pipe releasing lead particles in the water of homes after the city removed its portion of the lead lines. The disturbance of these lines after the city has removed its portion of lead pipe causes lead to leach into the water for months after the job has been done. For many residents who have had this done, the city has never advised them to take precautions when using the water or issued these homes filters to protect their families.
Partial lead line removals the city was doing before Freshwater For Life Action Coalition got involved was poisoning the residents with high levels of lead tainted water due to the pipes being disturbed by the jostling of the lines by city work crews.
In addition, Mayor Barrett receives $12 million dollars annually from the Milwaukee Water Works which he puts into the city’s general funds account. He can put blame on the state for cutting back on revenue sharing and the Feds for not helping out, but that doesn’t prevent him from taking part of that money he’s been receiving and at least initiate efforts to remove full lead lines before Flint, MI exploded. Mayor Barrett has known since 2006 that lead tainted water from lead pipes is poisoning our community.
Knowing that in 2006 that the water was poisoning our community, Milwaukee planning did not have a strategic strategy for removal of these toxic hazards. Tens of Thousands of our children have been harmed in some way by years of this cover-up. As reported in Milwaukee Magazine in the following statement by Virginia Tech University Science Professor Marc Edwards:
“Edwards has lived up to his reputation as a critic by questioning Milwaukee’s slow response to the problem of lead in water. And it’s been far slower than most people realize. Worries about lead leaching into the city’s drinking water have existed since at least the 1980s – in 1989, a report by a city Health Department official downplayed the issue while citing lead levels up to three times the federal benchmark at the time. Another alarming report, by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, found a statistical connection between “the amount of tap water a child drinks” in Milwaukee and whether the child tests high for lead. Edwards says the result was “buried” in the 2006 report’s appendix.”
Finally, this notion of getting rid of the pipes all at once is crazy talk. First, the city doesn’t have an idea of how many more lead pipes it has. We know of 70,000, but recent revelations show that no number of lead pipes can be determined for years 1952 to 1962, the year the Common Council mandated copper pipes be used only. Second, the cost to get rid of the all at once is to high. These lead pipes have to progressively be removed over a period of time. Conservatively it can take 18 to 25 years to remove all of the city lead laterals connecting from the city mains to inside private homes.
Pray America for sanity and balance to be restored.
The National Prayer Day is fast approaching. The Republican Party is spreading histeria pointing out our liberty and freedoms are under attack. The GOP claims that threats continue coming from within our own borders. “Socialists, communists, anarchists, sharia law, and the shadow of home grown Islamic jihad all aim to harm us in our own backyards,” say the Republicans.
Threats within our borders? Really!
Was it socialists, communists, anarchists, sharia law, and the shadow of home grown Islamic jihad who threatened to kill federal agents (American patriots) upholding federal laws at the Bundy Ranch?
Was it socialists, communists, anarchists, sharia law, and the shadow of home grown Islamic jihad who blew up Oklahoma City Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995 killing American children and patriotic Americans?
Is it socialists, communists, anarchists, sharia law, and the shadow of home grown Islamic jihad who maintains armed white supremacists militia training camps designed to advance race wars in the United States?
Is it socialists, communists, anarchists, sharia law, and the shadow of home grown Islamic jihad who is attempting to repeal universal healthcare in America, putting tens of thousands of coal mining workers and elderly retirees all across our nation in deaths shadow because they will no longer have healthcare?
Threats to our way of life are real. Radical elements from over seas intend to do America harm. But compared to the home grown threats of the Republican Party and white supremacist militia groups and billionaire class ruling our government, the threat overseas pales in comparison to the radical-anti-government-corporatist-white supremacist organizations running amok in America.
