In one regard, we're getting a lot of information about the salt water. We know roughly when it will get to each intake. We know it will be as long as three months before it is gone. What we aren't getting enough information about is what can/should be done about it and, more specifically, who should be doing what thing.
For instance, it's become clear that, although we don't know the severity of the issue, there's going to be a problem with contamination through corroded pipes. There's going to be a problem with lead.
The city has incomplete and unreliable information about its 1,500-mile water pipe system. How much of it is encased in lead is unknown.
That’s “the million-dollar question,” said Adrienne Katner, a drinking water researcher with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. “We have no idea how many lead pipes remain in the city, but in my field research it was rare for me to find a home without a lead service line.”
About 48 percent of the New Orleans water system was installed before 1940, making many pipes more than 80 years old. Lead was a common pipe material until the U.S. banned it in 1986.
It’s safe to assume the water from any faucet in the city has come into contact with lead, Murphy said.
“We’re a very old city, and we still have lead in everything from our distribution system to the feeder lines to individual homes,” he said.
About 88 percent of nearly 400 homes tested on the East Bank had lead in their water, according to a 2018 study by LSU. While lead levels were generally lower compared to the EPA's action level of 15 parts per billion, many health officials stress that there is no safe level of lead.
That sounds like a critical vulnerability to a citywide public utility. How do we fix that? Who is responsible for fixing that? Nobody knows! Some of these articles are beginning to suggest that each of us is just on our own to identify and purchase the appropriate expensive equipment.
Luckily, if it's right for you, systems that work and won't break the bank are available for homes, and run about $200 and can be installed under a single sink.
These work through reverse osmosis, where a semipermeable membrane separates salt from water, Scientific American reported. Systems are available for whole homes, as well, but start at $1,000.
Reverse osmosis is the only way to remove man-made chemicals called PFAS that have been linked to health hazards. Some systems can also remove lead, in addition to bacteria commonly found in water.
Depends on whose bank we're thinking about breaking here, but for a lot of people, $200 is a lot of money to spend on something that *might* help. If people need filters just to have safe water during an emergency then FEMA (the agency responsible for handling emergencies) or S&WB (the agency responsible for delivering safe drinking water) should probably get them for people.
Of course we don't know if that's exactly the thing that should be done. (Better figure it out soon, though!) But if it is, then that's who should do it.
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