Lead Abatement: Treat the Water or Replace the Pipes?

It’s a tough question.Replace all the lead pipe in your drinking water system, including home service laterals, or add corrosion-control chemicals at the plant to prevent leaching of lead into the water supply.The discussion has intensified since the lead poisoning debacle in Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately, the national discussion has focused mostly on politics and finger-pointing.Lead pipes are an issue, especially in older cities of the East and Midwest. While many utilities have undertaken programs to replace lead piping in their own water systems, the problem goes deeper. That’s because the replacements in many cases don’t include the line from the