Is Your Drinking Water Safe?
If you live in a home that was built before 1979 and have galvanized pipes, you may be drinking water that contain lead. We will collect drinking water samples and determine if your water is safe to drink.
Leader
Chantez Williams
Location
Norwood City of Cleveland, OH 44103
About the project
Water is one of the essential keys to life. To survive, you need water, but more importantly, you expect clean, safe drinking water when you turn on your faucet to get a drink. However, if you live in Cleveland and have galvanized water pipes, your drinking water may be contaminated with lead.
The State of Ohio Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (OHHLPPP) acknowledges that children under the age of 6 and developing fetuses are especially vulnerable to health problems from exposure to lead; including elevated lead in drinking water. It's been estimated that up to 20 % of the total lead exposure in children can be attributed to a waterborne route, i.e., consuming contaminated water. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health also stated that 10 to 20 percent of lead poisoning in children, and 40 to 60 percent of lead poisoning in formula-fed infants can be traced back to water.
Although the Ohio Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (OHHLPPP) and the Cleveland Health Department acknowledge that there is a potential risk of lead poisoning via residential drinking water, drinking water samples are not routinely collected as part of their normal prevention efforts for children testing positive for lead.
Our goal through this Lead Poisoning Project is to reduce the number of children lead poisoned by drinking water from their home in the city of Cleveland.
The Steps
The Cleveland Jamii Organization is an community "Grassroot" environmental organization with experienced personnel to collect residential drinking water samples, conduct residential environmental assessments and manage projects.
Below is a list of actions our team will take to accomplish our objective
- Prepare a Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) which describes the sampling locations, numbers and types of samples to be collected, quality control requirements of the project and environmental assessment procedures
- Identify an organization to analyze results, identify trends and submit a report of the results
- Contact a State of Ohio Certified Laboratory to test the drinking water for pH, alkalinity, orthophophates, lead and copper;
- Purchase 50 EPA approved 1 liter drinking water collection containers
- Purchase 50 (total) faucet and/or picther drinking water filters
- Identify volunteer participants with children who live on the Eastside of Cleveland
- Follow USEPA drinking water sampling protocols
- Collect drinking water samples and environmental assessments
- Volunteer participants who's drinking water exceed the USEPA action level will receive faucet mounted or pitcher drinking water filter
- Post results on IOBY website
- Submit data to local legislators, City of Cleveland, Ohio EPA, US EPA
Why we‘re doing it