Injustice in the Water: Lead Contamination in Chicago’s BIPOC Communities and Paths Forward

As the public eye returns to Flint, Michigan, and the State’s prosecution of ex-Governor Rick Snyder for his criminal negligence, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities nationwide continue to suffer from the disastrous health effects of lead contaminated water. Exposure to lead can severely damage the kidneys and brains of children and adults; horrifically, lead exposure damages fetal nervous systems in utero. The widespread adoption of lead-laden water, housing, and transportation infrastructure acutely and disproportionately impacts Black and Brown communities, increasing the likelihood of behavioral and intellectual impairment in systemically disenfranchised groups. Flint’s 99,000 impacted residents have intimate knowledge of these health effects. Just across the Michigan border, Chicago’s communities of color also endure one the greatest lead exposure burdens in the United States, highlighting similar environmental and racial injustices.

Chicago and its surrounding communities host some of the highest concentrations of lead service lines (LSLs) in the country. A particularly alarming 2016 Chicago Public Schools study found that 36% of surveyed buildings contained at least one fixture that violated federal standards for lead exposure. One school for differently-abled children contained a fixture with lead contaminated water at a level 70 times greater than the federal standard of 15 parts per billion; it is important to note that lead is dangerous in any quantity, especially in children who can face permanent brain damage from exposure. Additionally, a water infrastructure industry conference in 2012 suggested that some 80% of Chicago properties are connected to water mains via LSLs. These studies, combined with years of grassroot’s activism from organizations like the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, culminated in the passing of the Preventing Lead in Drinking Water Act (SB550), which mandates lead testing in schools built before 1987 (the year LSLs were banned) as well as reporting from water utilities on pipe infrastructure.

The prevalence of LSLs in Chicago is well established; however, recent investigations have determined that BIPOC communities are both disproportionately burdened with lead and under-resourced to remove the toxic lines. Vox, in partnership with the Washington State Department of Health, utilized census income data and building age to generate a lead exposure risk map. The researchers used statistical analysis to determine that both impoverishment and building age strongly correlate to lead exposure, allowing for the creation of a national lead risk map (partially pictured below).

This sample of the national lead risk map depicts communities where lead exposure from LSLs is most likely (greater than 90% chance). When juxtaposed against a map of non-white Chicagoans (below), clear patterns of toxicity concentration arise in the City’s primarily BIPOC West, South, and Far North Sides. While Chicago’s lead data is substantively lacking, researchers at NRDC have concluded that communities of color routinely shoulder the heaviest burden of lead contamination.

Around 20% of Chicago census tracts lie in the highest exposure risk category, with the vast majority of those areas housing non-white Chicagoans. Like Flint, it is time for Chicagoans of color to benefit from reparative policies to prevent, and begin undoing, the harm caused by lead exposure.

The Path Forward

While Chicago has started identifying and documenting LSLs under SB550, there exists much reparative work to do in Black and Brown communities inundated with lead. Here are some of the ways that Chicago and Illinois electeds can begin addressing the economic and health impacts of lead exposure in BIPOC communities:

1. Create and publicize an accessible, visual, and searchable lead service line inventory for all Chicagoans. As more information on LSLs becomes available, Chicago residents deserve readily accessible public records and maps that illustrate their potential exposure to lead from contaminated water. Residents could use this data to hold their Alderpeople and elected state officials accountable for line replacement prioritization.
2. Create an LSL replacement grant fund for communities below the federal poverty line. The price tag for replacing LSLs ranges from $15000 to $25000 (plus the cost of labor) depending on the size of the project. The City of Chicago must ensure that low- and middle-income BIPOC communities are not burdened by the cost of water line replacement. Surcharges on water bills for water line replacement programs must be restricted in low income and BIPOC communities. The City’s proposed Equity LSLR (lead service line replacement) program is a good start, but middle-income Black and Hispanic communities deserve similar grant funding. It is important to acknowledge that the median white household is 10 times wealthier than median income Black and Hispanic families ($170,000 vs. $17,000 respectively).
3. Create meaningful wealth creation opportunities for union and non-union BIPOC contractors. As Chicago and Illinois begin to unveil LSL replacement programs, BIPOC contractors must be prioritized for employment via workforce development programs like the Clean Water Workforce Pipeline Program. This program highlights the need to generate living wage jobs in environmental justice communities. Replicating and expanding this program is one way to achieve some reparative justice. A recent report from the Metropolitan Planning Council estimates that replacing all LSLs could generate between 87,841 to 224,500 jobs (depending on the total number of LSLs present in Illinois).

Transparent data communication, grant funded LSL replacement, and BIPOC contractor incubator programs represent a few potential paths forward to addressing the environmental injustice of lead water lines in Chicago.

Sources

Center for Disease Control. “Flint Lead Exposure Registry.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/programs/flint-registry.htm.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “Health Problems Caused by Lead.” The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/lead/health.html#:~:text=Exposure%20to%20high%20levels%20of,a%20developing%20baby's%20nervous%20system.

City of Chicago. “Lead Service Line Replacement Plan.” https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7205190-2020-09-09-LSLR-Program-Briefing-Mv-Ap-1.html.

Fedinick, Kristi. “Watered Down Jusrice.” Natural Resources Defense Council, https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/watered-down-justice-report.pdf

Frostenson, Sarah. “The risk of lead poisoning isn’t just in Flint. So we mapped the risk in every neighborhood in America.” Vox Media, 6 April 2016, https://www.vox.com/a/lead-exposure-risk-map.

Illinois General Assembly. “Public Act 101–0576.” Illinois General Assembly, https://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=101-0576.

McIntosh, Kriston. “Examining the Black-white wealth gap.” Brookings, 27 February 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/27/examining-the-black-white-wealth-gap/.

Nelter, Tom. “Mandatory lead service line inventories — Illinois and Michigan as strong models.” Environmental Defense Fund, 30 July 2018, http://blogs.edf.org/health/2018/07/30/mandatory-lead-service-line-inventories/.

Perez, Juan. “CPS is testing schools for high lead levels: What you should know.” Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2016, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-schools-lead-explainer-met-20160619-story.html.

Spielman, Fran. “$8B to $10B plan to replace lead service lines being rolled out ‘in the coming weeks.’” Chicago Sun Times, 18 August 2020, https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2020/8/18/21373932/lead-pipes-chicago-water-mains-service-lines-contamination-homes.

White, Ed, et al. “Michigan plans to charge ex-Gov. Snyder in Flint water probe.” Associated Press, 13 January 2021, https://apnews.com/article/flint-lead-water-crisis-gov-rick-snyder-801ba227340f0ac2e10e37a06a82f08d.

Williams, Justin, and Tara Jagadeesh. “Data Points: How replacing lead water lines will put people back to work.” Metropolitan Planning Council, 6 January 2021, https://www.metroplanning.org/news/9988/Data-Points-How-replacing-lead-water-lines-will-put-people-back-to-work.