Print Friendly and PDF
$300 billion war beneath the street: Fighting to replace America’s water pipes
www.nytimes.com

$300 billion war beneath the street: Fighting to replace America’s water pipes

Much more is at stake than billions of dollars.


A national conversion to plastic pipes would amount to a massive experiment with public health because of the potential for plastic additives to leach out of the pipes into drinking water, and for hazardous chemicals to form in the event of fires, e.g., what happened in Santa Rosa CA last month.

From the article: "Studies have shown that toxic pollutants like benzene and toluene from spills and contaminated soil can permeate certain types of plastic pipes as they age. A 2013 review of research on leaching from plastic pipe identified more than 150 contaminants migrating from plastic pipes into drinking water."

"Plastics are being installed without any real understanding of what they're doing to our drinking water," said Andrew J. Whelton, assistant professor of civil engineering at Purdue University, and an author of the 2013 study. "We don't know what chemicals we're being exposed to."

Become a donor
Today's top news
From our newsroom

WATCH: The aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, toxic train derailment

Beyond Plastics captures the personal stories of residents and call for a federal ban on vinyl chloride.

Monsanto sued for excluding non-US citizen plaintiff from Roundup cancer settlement

Diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Elvira Reyes-Hernandez was allegedly denied a settlement payout by Monsanto due to her immigration status.

Op-ed: A radical solution to make US affordable housing healthy and community-driven

“The way we as a nation approach affordable housing should begin with centering the people in the homes.”

PFAS: EPA releases proposed drinking water standards for six “forever chemicals”

The Biden administration announcement comes after years of pleas from exposed communities, scientists and health and environmental activists.

Una propuesta radical para viviendas asequibles, salubres y al servicio de la comunidad en Estados Unidos

“La forma como nuestra nación se aproxima a la vivienda de interés social debería tener centrarse en quienes viven en esos hogares.”