Philadelphia City Council To Hold Water Quality Hearings
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has raised concerns nationally about lead contamination, including in Philadelphia city council.
The joint committee on Children and Youth & Public Health and Human Services will explore the city's water quality in homes and in schools during hearings on Monday.
Philadelphia homes built before 1950 may have lead pipes. So the Water Department uses a treatment to suppress lead leaching, that's the step that was missing in Flint, and regularly tests lead levels to make sure it's working.
The Council committee will hear from critics, who say the testing procedure is inadequate and too limited.
The Department tests water samples from 50 homes every three years. You can see the results on its website.
Kenney administration spokesman Mike Dunn says the Department is working on ways to boost participation, both through an awareness program and by providing a small financial incentive:
"There is an issue in getting homeowners to participate in the sampling so perhaps even a token financial incentive would boost that."
Dunn says the department is also developing a zero interest loan program so homeowners could replace lead lines and solders:
"To make that cost more affordable and therefore it would be more likely for that work to get done."
The school district's environmental director Francine Locke will also testify about efforts to improve what she calls "drinking water appeal," not to be confused, she says, with drinking water safety.
The district has had a Lead-Safe water program in place since 2000.
"We've tested every drinking water outlet throughout the district, over 20,000 drinking water outlets, between 2000 and 2010 and all of those drinking water outlets had results that were below the EPA's action level," says Locke.
The testing procedure, she says, was very regimented, "requiring certain flushing, certain first draw samples, secondary samples, a certified laboratory was utilized, a chain of custody was in place."
She acknowledges, though, that school water fountains can be unpleasant:
"We're trying to make our school drinking water more appealing through having water that is chilled, by having hydration stations installed."
Though the hearing involves only water quality, Philadelphia's biggest lead problem remains lead-based paint.
