By Sierra Club Water Team member, Melissa Warner
For more information about lead pipes, click here
The Wisconsin Legislature has recently passed SB 48, giving water utilities and municipalities the ability to offer financing plans so that homeowners may replace lead service lines on their properties. In cities like Racine, water mains and laterals to the property line have been replaced whenever other street work was being done. However, service lines from the street to individual homes, being the responsibility of the property owner, were not replaced. Racine has been fortunate in obtaining grants which have allowed replacement of some service lines, but only a neighborhood at a time. Before SB48, municipalities had very limited ways to assist homeowners in replacing their service lines.
Lead is one of the elements where there is no safe level of exposure. Lead poisoning in children results in lower IQs, learning disabilities and developmental delays. These conditions place a burden on our schools and on our health care system. Lead poisoning occurs disproportionately in low-income families, because these families are more likely to live in older city homes built with lead service lines. 
Many children are also exposed to lead from chipping and flaking of older, lead-based paint. Lead was banned from paints in 1978; any house built before then may have lead-based paint underneath the current layer. Children ingest lead particles inadvertently from house dust and outside dirt.
Lead in drinking water is of concern to the many communities in our state that provide drinking water through a utility. (see JMC White Paper Lead Contamination in Wisconsin. add link) Lead gets into drinking water by corrosion from older (pre-1986) lead pipes, as well as from brass (and chrome-plated brass) fixtures and lead solder. In many cities, such as Racine, corrosion is reduced by adding a phosphate compound that creates a thin protective film inside the pipes.
If you are concerned about lead in your house dust or in your water, contact your public health department for information on how to test for lead, and precautions to take to reduce your risk of exposure. Children can be tested for lead levels in their blood.
While we are pleased that the Wisconsin legislature has passed SB48, we must realize that it is not a magic bullet that will make lead problems go away. Water utilities still need to work on the best way to use their resources to remove remaining lead water mains, laterals, and service lines. SB48 is one new "tool in the box."
For more information about lead in drinking water, click here