CLEVELAND — Lead is a chemical that can be extremely toxic, but many people still have lead pipes in their buildings or homes.
The Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing is a coalition dedicated to making people aware of lead safety. Their treasurer, Spencer Wells, explained what the organization does.
“Our focus is trying to keep the community aware of lead safety issues and to prod public officials to follow through on commitments that they’ve made to try and make homes lead-safe and part of that is trying to take care of the pipes,” he said.
Wells said that one of their big goals this year is to monitor lead pipe replacements due to the high number of them in the city.
“Cleveland’s one of a couple of northern cities that have among the highest levels of lead pipes in their water systems,” he said.
Cleveland Water is trying to help with this issue by investing $19 million in replacing the lead pipes, which Wells said is very important.
“Some of the damage in lead and water can be mitigated by the water treatment process, but that’s just a temporary fix. What we really need is to get the lead pipes out of the ground and not going into homes,” he said.
Lead is unhealthy for everyone, but especially for children. The Centers for Disease Control said there is no safe level of exposure to lead for kids. Wells said it can cause serious health issues such as behavioral problems and learning disabilities.
“This is a toxic product and a public health issue,” he said.
People can contact Cleveland Water to test their water if they believe they have lead pipes.
