WASHINGTON (CN) - Experts warn that utilities across the country have failed to heed federal guidelines urging discontinuation of a practice that disguises high lead levels in water.
The practice in question occurs during sampling of water under the Environmental Protection Agency's lead and copper rule.
Though common in years past, the EPA now warns against running the tap for several minutes before the pre-sampling, six-hour stagnation period.
Flint's lead-in-water crisis exposed the dangers of the practice, known as pre-flushing, but the current lead and copper rule does not prohibit the practice.
Just this past January, the Washington-based advocacy group Parents for Non-Toxic Alternatives blasted Philadelphia for still advising customers pre-flush before collecting samples for testing.
The group is among several water-safety advocates voicing concerns that utilities underestimate lead levels in drinking water. Practices these groups have touted for years are only now making their into EPA advisories.
Guidelines the EPA issued in February, for example, now suggest using wide-mouthed sampling bottles to capture stronger flows more representative of how people use water in their homes. The guidelines also now recommend that water utilities stop instructing customers to remove the screens on faucet tips.
But the sampling protocol is still deficient in other ways, medical ethnographer Yanna Lambrinidou said in an interview.
The president of the nontoxic alternatives group, Lambrinidou says the lead and copper rule requires the taking of only one water sample after the six-hour stagnation period.
Though that first sample catches only the water closest to the tap, Lambrinidou said researchers should be testing water that had prolonged contact with lead service lines - the water that people use to drink and cook with every day.
Multiple samples collected 45 seconds after the first would capture water that sat in the lead service line during the stagnation period, which could contain higher lead levels.
Even two samples might not be enough to capture peak lead levels, Lambrinidou added, but it would be better than current practice.
The ethnographer cited research showing that 50 percent to 70 percent of water utility companies with lead service lines would exceed the EPA's threshold for lead.
"This finding could affect up to 96 million residents in this country who are being told their water is safe to drink," Lambrinidou said in an interview.
Lambrinidou noted that lead-certified water filters would help protect individual homes, but these can be pricey and inaccessible for low-income families.
"The most vulnerable communities will be hardest hit," Lambrinidou said.
Partial Lead-Pipe Replacement, a Partial Solution
The lead and copper rule allows water utilities to conduct only partial replacements of lead service lines, a rule that lets utilities focus on the public portion of lead pipes while privately owned property goes unchecked.
Concerns about how EPA determined control of, and thus responsibility for, water service lines put the rule in place. A group called the American Water Works Association won that 1993 challenge, but the court left open the question of responsibility.
Combined with years of lobbying by the water industry, the ruling led the EPA to condone partial replacements.