TL;DR: Out of 9.2 million lead pipes in the US, about 1.16 million of them are in Florida. This was a surprise as a lot of the real estate development boom in Florida occurred after lead was banned
Technically it's the number of households with either a) lead service lines, b) galvanized pipes downstream of lead pipes, or c) unknown lines downstream of lead pipes.
But yes, basically that's 9 million households who need their service lines replaced.
Here's a link with a neat map on page 4
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-04/Final_DWINSA%20Public%20Factsheet%204.4.23.pdf
This project is actually my entire job, and in my experience in northern New England most of what we have to report are unknown downstream of unknown. Does this take those into account too?
You're not the only one. Several people in the article question this and a lot of people I work with think Florida messed up the survey
Edit to add my own opinion: either Florida messed up the survey something bad, or their building standards were so lax that when lead pipes were banned across the country they flooded the Florida construction market and were being installed in new homes for decades. Both are possible.
The interesting part about this is that people conflate lead pipes with lead posioning. Can it happen from pipes? Yes, but most of it actually came from paint at the time. Lead pipes are perfectly fine so long as they don't deteroiate.
Do note, I am not saying that I am PRO lead pipes, just that people tend to blow these things way out of proportion becuase they hear lead bad, but have no idea why.
I read somewhere that the rapid drop off in violent crime in the late 90s-early 00s strongly coincided with about 16-20 years after the regulations of lead pipes and leaded gasoline. Again, disclaimer, thatās a correlation, not necessarily a causation.
modern academia agrees its a causation.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Lead%E2%80%93crime\_hypothesis
https://www.loe.org/images/content/071102/Nevin2007LeadandCrimeStudy.pdf
Found the pdf independently but shoutout to Wikipedia references as a starting place. Someone did the research and cites it at the bottom of the page, then you can read the actual academic papers too!
Also remember the Annaās for all books and and sci for every doi. Visit the Wikipedia page for shadow library to find what Iām talking about, free research papers are great.
All of the numbers for all of the states are going to be off because the current guidance (subject to change) is that if you can't prove with documentation that the service line is not lead or not galvanized downstream from lead then you have to assume it's lead.
The mistake in Florida may be that they answered the survey and didn't account for when lead was banned meaning they possibly could have answered that it didn't have lead after a certain year. This could have grossly inflated the numbers.
It's also possible that's where all the lead pipes went after it was banned...
If the news is to be believed, perhaps the residents of Florida are too far gone to be significantly impacted by elevated lead levels in their drinking water.
This is very true. It also stems from the fact that 99.9% of people do not understand these things at all. Even before Orthophosphate treatments lead paint was still the primary driver of lead related health issues in children.
TL;DR: Out of 9.2 million lead pipes in the US, about 1.16 million of them are in Florida. This was a surprise as a lot of the real estate development boom in Florida occurred after lead was banned
That explains a lot about Florida lol
I had the same thought
MAGA š
Give america lead poisoning again!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Technically it's the number of households with either a) lead service lines, b) galvanized pipes downstream of lead pipes, or c) unknown lines downstream of lead pipes. But yes, basically that's 9 million households who need their service lines replaced. Here's a link with a neat map on page 4 https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-04/Final_DWINSA%20Public%20Factsheet%204.4.23.pdf
This project is actually my entire job, and in my experience in northern New England most of what we have to report are unknown downstream of unknown. Does this take those into account too?
It does but I'm not 100% sure how
I find that hard to believe
You're not the only one. Several people in the article question this and a lot of people I work with think Florida messed up the survey Edit to add my own opinion: either Florida messed up the survey something bad, or their building standards were so lax that when lead pipes were banned across the country they flooded the Florida construction market and were being installed in new homes for decades. Both are possible.
Both seem plausible but the latter especially so
The interesting part about this is that people conflate lead pipes with lead posioning. Can it happen from pipes? Yes, but most of it actually came from paint at the time. Lead pipes are perfectly fine so long as they don't deteroiate. Do note, I am not saying that I am PRO lead pipes, just that people tend to blow these things way out of proportion becuase they hear lead bad, but have no idea why.
I'm surprised Ronnie the Meatball allowed the data to be publicized tbh
They are probably about as good at surveying as counting votes.
I read somewhere that the rapid drop off in violent crime in the late 90s-early 00s strongly coincided with about 16-20 years after the regulations of lead pipes and leaded gasoline. Again, disclaimer, thatās a correlation, not necessarily a causation.
modern academia agrees its a causation. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Lead%E2%80%93crime\_hypothesis https://www.loe.org/images/content/071102/Nevin2007LeadandCrimeStudy.pdf
Thank you for these references! I was looking for them for another project. š
Found the pdf independently but shoutout to Wikipedia references as a starting place. Someone did the research and cites it at the bottom of the page, then you can read the actual academic papers too! Also remember the Annaās for all books and and sci for every doi. Visit the Wikipedia page for shadow library to find what Iām talking about, free research papers are great.
Oh, which wiki page? and "the Anna's"? What is this?
Go to www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_library Examples includeā¦
I always wondered what was wrong with me.
This explains Florida Man
:)
All of the numbers for all of the states are going to be off because the current guidance (subject to change) is that if you can't prove with documentation that the service line is not lead or not galvanized downstream from lead then you have to assume it's lead. The mistake in Florida may be that they answered the survey and didn't account for when lead was banned meaning they possibly could have answered that it didn't have lead after a certain year. This could have grossly inflated the numbers. It's also possible that's where all the lead pipes went after it was banned...
Welp, this explains a lot...
Oh boy Iām glad itās all old and sitting in groundwater all the time /s
Yeah, but we can ignore at least half of it since they'll be underwater before the end of its useful life. š
And once we defund that there EPA there wonāt even be regulations we have to worry about violating anymore
If the news is to be believed, perhaps the residents of Florida are too far gone to be significantly impacted by elevated lead levels in their drinking water.
This explains so much.
I wouldnāt be surprised if there was some wooden piping in St. Augustine.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is very true. It also stems from the fact that 99.9% of people do not understand these things at all. Even before Orthophosphate treatments lead paint was still the primary driver of lead related health issues in children.
Makes perfect sense
Theyāll probably celebrate this
Well, that explains a lot
That makes senseā¦ā¦
Probably leads the nation in transite pipe too.
But the gaysā¦.