Chicago's Lead Crisis: New Policy Approaches

Abstract

Lead contamination in drinking water remains a pressing concern, especially in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, which has around 400,000 lead service lines (the most of any U.S. city). We conducted a review of relevant local, state, and federal legislation on water quality. Our analysis focuses on the impact of lead contamination on schoolchildren and touches on the effects of redlining on this issue. Methods included both (a) examination of the current policy landscape and (b) cost-benefit analysis regarding the impact of lead in Chicago water lines. Analysis of past legislation’s successes and failures aims to motivate new methods or replicate old ones, mainly focusing on the Clean Water Act (1972), Safe Drinking Water Act (1974), Public Act 099-0922 (2017) and the Lead and Copper Rule (1991/2021). In our cost-benefit analysis, we gather data relating to economic, social, and health costs which all point to lead line replacement as the solution. We recommend different preventative and mitigative measures and quantify associated costs. The service line replacement program implemented in Newark, New Jersey saw significant successes that should be replicated in Chicago. These successes were the result of both specific technical tools such as trenchless replacement techniques and improved corrosion control systems, and also the result of socio-legal tools including policies to allow replacement with homeowner consent. There is also an opportunity to significantly improve health by expanding the use of activated carbon filters in public buildings including schools. Lead-contaminated drinking water continues to negatively affect residents across Chicago. Solving this problem requires vast reform of current policy and public infrastructure across the city’s various communities.

Ethan Jiang

Dreaming of a world without scarcity.

I am interested in the use of data to inform technology policy and climate change mitigation.