Community Connect hooks you up and helps you out with resources you can use… this week, it’s about protecting yourself and your family’s health from a quiet danger in your home.
If you live in a home in the city of Chicago, you may know that the city has the highest number of lead water service lines in the nation... it will take the city until 2076 to fully replace over 400,000 lines of pipes made of lead or contaminated with the toxic metal.
This means Chicago residents risk daily lead exposure. Even very small amounts in the body can cause harm, because there’s no safe threshold that’s healthy for anyone. Children and pregnant women are the most vulnerable, risking developmental and cognitive problems.
Even though you can’t see, smell, or taste lead in drinking water, there are ways to protect yourself:
- First, find out if your home is connected to the city’s water supply by a lead service line… you can search your address on a look-up tool like the one at this link.
- Next, find out if your home’s plumbing and faucets also contain lead. One easy, low tech way to tell is with magnets—if they don’t stick to the pipe, it might contain lead since it’s not a magnetic metal.
- Also filter your water. Find the right one for you, using the EPA’s filter guide.You can also test your drinking water by requesting a free test kit online or at 311 or a free water quality lead inspection from the city of Chicago Department of Water Management.
You can find more tips in the Chicago Sun-Times' recent article with all the resources to help at this link.
Remember, our community moves forward in the best way possible when we all get the help we need and give the help we can!