IN LIGHT of Washington, D.C.'s exorbitantly high water lead levels, and the disgraceful efforts of local officials to cover up evidence, one would assume that a bipartisan effort would be led to ensure safe water nationwide. But in an election year, in a time where more bitter partisanship than usual has hijacked American politics, there is little visible effort being made to protect the nation from unhealthy tap water. First of all, it must be established that no amount of lead in drinking water is safe. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), exposure to lead can and will initiate serious health problems, causing cognitive impairment as well as damage to bodily organs. For example, children exposed to lead have significantly lower IQs, and adults have also been known to acquire brain and kidney damage upon exposure to lead. Minimizing and preventing lead exposure is in the best interest of the people.
But completely eliminating lead from tap water would be too costly and probably unrealistic, thus the true debate among experts and lawmakers is how many particles of lead per billion particles of water is enough to permanently damage an individual. This is, in many ways, shocking, and even more shocking is how few Americans are aware of this fact. The high demand for bottled water, though, shows Americans have long since distrusted tap water. Attempts to eliminate lead from tap water have been checked by the unbelievably high costs of replacing old underground pipes, pipes that contain and leak lead. Furthermore, lead is among 90 other contaminants that need to be controlled, and the states are unable to carry the financial burden of monitoring these contaminants. According to The Washington Post, "the EPA issued lists of priorities starting in 1996
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