Thirsty?
As the mercury climbs this summer Chicagoans — including tens of thousands of kids enrolled in summer camps at city parks — will have about 16 percent fewer outdoor water fountains to rely on because lead testing once again has shown the city’s tap water is tainted.
The Chicago Park District, in cooperation with the Department of Water, has launched its “seasonal flushing” of stagnant water held in pipes below the city’s 1,200 outdoor water fountains—something begun after Flint, Michigan’s issues with lead in drinking water put a spotlight on water quality.
But it’s not a merely routine event; the city also will deactivate at least 16 percent of those fountains because lead testing has shown they’re a danger to users, reducing the city’s overall inventory to about 1,000 safe outdoor park fountains.
“Those 200 would have had at least a lead detection.” Beyond detection of lead content greater than 5 parts per billion, the maximum allowed in bottled water by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the water fountains that will be kept off this summer also will have been deemed “low-traffic,” Maxey-Faulkner said.
The latter may show unsafe lead levels when controlled by button, but drop to safe levels when the water runs constantly, Maxey-Faulkner said.
The Tribune this spring conducted its own analysis into water quality in the city and learned lead was found in nearly 70 percent of the roughly 2,800 homes tested in the past two years.
In more than 100 homes across the city where lead levels reached 15 ppb to 270 ppb in testing kit samples, water department officials conducted follow-up testing that involved drawing 10 consecutive 1-liter samples.
Remediation by local government is required when more than 10 percent of tested homes have lead levels of 15 ppb, according to WBEZ, which first reported on the city’s intent to keep hundreds of water fountains dry this summer.
Ingesting tiny concentrations can permanently damage the developing brains of children and contribute to heart disease, kidney failure and other health problems later in life.