The City Council was urged Monday to “learn from Flint’s nightmare” by slapping a 1 percent tax on the sale of high-end property to help homeowners defray the cost of replacing lead service lines that carry water into Chicago homes.
The most alarming testimony came from Felicia Chase, a geologist and water specialist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who “saw first-hand the devastation that widespread lead poisoning can have on a community” during five deployments to Flint, Michigan.
Chase talked about kids allowed to drink rationed amounts of bottled water because the water from their kitchen sinks was poisonous and about the family of five that haunts her to this day.
That family’s youngest child was a toddler with rashes all over his body, the worst one on his scalp.
“She kept asking me if her child was gonna be OK. She asked me if her child was gonna have long-term effects from this lead in her drinking water.
“I urge you take steps to prevent lead poisoning from the lead pipes that transport our drinking water from Lake Michigan to us in Chicago.
No U.S. city has more lead service lines than Chicago.
That’s where the tax comes in.
“We need to find some way to help these seniors who can’t afford these service lines.
Or, let the city do the work and share the cost over five to 10 years, through an additional fee on the property tax bill.