this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
497 points (99.2% liked)

News

23116 readers
3365 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

President Biden on Tuesday announced $2.6 billion in funding to replace all lead pipes in the United States as part of a new EPA rule that will require lead pipes to be identified and replaced within 10 years using the new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 131 points 2 days ago (8 children)

TIL that lead pipes carrying drinking water are still used in the States.

Suddenly SO MUCH makes sense.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Famously so in Flint, Michigan. Lead poisoning in water and air is no joke and does serious damage to cognitive ability. Average lead levels in air are still painfully high and it does not go away.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Same in Montreal but wére fïně

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Iirc the issue with Flint was they changed water sources and with it the PH of the water, dissolving the mineral deposits that were insulating the water from the lead pipe itself.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, that is indeed what happened. But the detail of how it started becoming a bigger problem isn't all that important. All that lead should have been gone by now whether it was actively leaking or not. It should have been the next great taxed based infrastructure project. Interstates? Wait till we stop poisoning ourselves with stupid juice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I mean, the interstate project started in the 1950’s and people didn’t start being concerned about lead water pipes until the 1970s. Clearly this will all be fixed by the 1980s, 1990s tops

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

"I'm from Canada, and they say I'm slow, eh"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When it comes to lead pipes, it is possible for them to safely carry water without the risk of leaching lead into the drinking water, but it relies on the pipes being properly maintained and the water being properly treated. This is where the issue came with Flint.

Prior to 2014, the Flint River was a backup source for drinking water with the primary source being Lake Huron. However, Flint was facing a financial crisis and decided to switch their water supply to the Flint River. When they switched, they also chose to save money by not treating the new water source with the additional anticorrosion materials that would be necessary for the different properties of this water. This caused the existing lead pipes to corrode through the protective layer that had naturally formed previously, allowing lead to leach into the water supply.

Aside from the dangers of lead contamination for the human body, there is another concern when it comes to water treatment. Lead reacts with chlorine, and chlorine is added to drinking water to protect against harmful bacteria. Since there was now a significant amount of lead leaching into the water, a notable portion of the chlorine was now bound to the lead and was not available to kill harmful bacteria. This created the initial problems that were identified by residents in Flint, MI, and it was later discovered that the water supply now had detectable levels of lead.

So Flint exemplifies the issue well. Lead pipes are dangerous and should not be used, but that danger isn't absolute. Because lead pipes can be safe, we've let this problem fester for decades. However, it takes a lot of care and attention to keep using these pipes safely, and, as can be seen in Flint, it is very easy for those precautions to be tossed aside. When that happens, it becomes a major crisis very quickly.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Flint also exemplifies the issue well how the people that knowingly chose to poison a city faced zero consequences.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The obama thing in flint is when i realized almost all politicians are fucking empathy lacking sociopaths. You just have to figure out and choose the ones that plan to win by doing the things that are the least deranged.

After officials briefed Obama on the federal government’s response to the contamination and he addressed the news media, a reporter asked if he would drink the water in a glass on the table. The president said he usually avoids publicity stunts. But he took a drink, saying he wanted to show the water must be safe if he’s drinking it.

“This used a filter,” Obama said of the water. “The water around this table was Flint water and it just confirms what we know scientifically, which is, if you’re using a filter, if you’re installing it, then Flint water at this point is drinkable.”

The second part is technically correct but its still a very clear attempt at trying to make it seem like things were fine. And now we are where we are, many years later, and the pipes are still all fucked because it wasnt taken serious.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 days ago

Lead pipes don't leach lead into the water when the water's properly treated. The problem is what happens when there's a hiccup in the water treatment process, which happens too often. This is going to be a very difficult process to complete in some very old, often impoverished neighborhoods.

Of note, I live in Texas, and we have very few lead pipes in the state, so you're going to need another excuse for these people's behavior.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 days ago

It's not exactly an easy fix. You're talking about digging up entire cities and replacing their water pipes. Obviously, it needs to be done, but the cost and the logistics are a nightmare.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago

Might want to check on the pipes where you live before you make jokes

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

Lead pipes are still in use all over the world, including europe

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They just haven't replaced. No new construction has been able to use them for decades

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

In many places, the water mains have been replaced over the years, but no one wants to spend money on lines up to people’s houses

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Which is why I only drink from my reverse osmosis filter. My brain still works, for now, those micro plastics are getting everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Guarantee you that they're still used in whatever country you live in, too.