Expert faults EPA on lead

Chemical change cited in Durham water tests

After conducting tests in Durham, a Virginia scientist says a change in water cleansing chemistry likely caused lead contamination in multiple homes.

Similar problems with lead-tainted water might be evading detection elsewhere in Durham -- and at residences across the country, the researcher concludes. And he blames inadequate testing required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the agency that is supposed to keep drinking water clear of lead.

"A lead poisoning could happen anywhere," said Marc Edwards, an engineering professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "No one should construe government lead rules as a guarantee that their tap water is safe."

Terry Rolan, director of Durham's water department, said Thursday that his utility will investigate Edwards' conclusions, detailed in a technical report. But Rolan stressed that he is not convinced Durham has a widespread problem on its hands.

"I think it's something we look into and we should investigate. But I can't jump as far as he jumps," Rolan said, stressing that a change in water chemistry will affect one system differently from another.

Durham may be better protected than other cities, Rolan said, because its water department has used chemical films to protect residential piping from leaching lead longer than any other state utility.

Edwards was commissioned to analyze water in Durham last month by WHH Trice & Co., which manages Penrith Townhomes. County health investigators say a child developed lead poisoning from water consumed in a Penrith rental unit.

The poisoning occurred even though EPA-required water tests of 92 homes citywide in 2004 turned up no evidence of a lead problem in Durham's water. But aggressive investigations by county and state public health officials after the Penrith poisoning appear to be finding problems the city missed, Edwards said.

Initially, city water officials announced that any problem in Durham was confined to Penrith plumbing. But water tests arranged by county health officials revealed elevated lead in homes located outside the complex, too. A state survey started this month has detected high lead elsewhere in the city.

Extent of threat questioned

EPA officials, however, say there is no evidence of a huge public health threat originating from lead in drinking water. Rates of lead poisoning in children have declined for years, noted Veronica Blette, special assistant to the EPA director of the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water.

"[Edwards] wants to say there is an emerging problem," Blette said. "But I don't see the percentage of children with elevated lead in their blood increasing."

This is the second North Carolina city where Edwards has traced a lead problem to a chemical imbalance caused by water cleansing additives. Earlier this year he found a similar problem in Greenville. Water collected from the home of a lead-poisoned boy produced pasta containing more lead per serving than lead in dime-sized paint chips, he said.

A water treatment expert funded by the National Science Foundation, Edwards says a chemical combination found in some municipal water supplies can make the water highly corrosive. The trouble arises when there's too much chloride compared to sulfate.

Edwards has shown in laboratory studies that a high ratio between chloride and sulfate pulls particles of lead off exposed solder used to seal copper pipes before 1985, when lead solder was banned in this state.

Lead, even in small quantities, can harm the mental development of children younger than 6.