Heavy water

The state lets providers of drinking water dodge critical tests for lead contamination. The governor's leadership is needed

Ingesting lead has long been known to wreck human minds and bodies. It is especially toxic to the brains and nervous systems of youngsters. A basic public health responsibility thus has been to protect people from lead's effects.

Unfortunately, some local governments have fallen down on the job, cutting corners on rigorous testing of public water supplies for lead content. North Carolina's state government, meanwhile, has tolerated the slack testing procedures. State agencies also have been flatfooted about sharing information once lead contamination is detected.

Some might dismiss those shortcomings simply as a hazard of big bureaucracies. But tell that to a parent whose child is weakened by lead poisoning. Or to frantic parents who don't know why their youngster has developed a serious learning disability -- since lead in water isn't detected by taste, smell or sight.

The deficiencies in lead safeguards were detailed in The N&O yesterday, in the last of a series of investigative articles. The series highlighted the failure of state and local governments to regulate adequately the quality of water from private wells and public sources. It became clear that neither municipalities nor operators of small, private water systems are as scrupulous about testing drinking water as the health dangers of lead demand.

In the last fiscal year, for example, about 50 of the approximately 4,000 small system operators that were required to perform regular testing flunked tests on lead contamination. More than double that number, 119, didn't perform the test at all. They included 19 schools and day-care centers.

Large water systems also miss important testing standards. State and federal guidelines say that operators regularly should test the water in a sample of homes for lead. The testing is supposed to focus on homes built from 1983 to 1986, because they are considered at the highest risk of lead leaching into the water from solder used to join pipes. The N&O found that more than half of the homes tested by Raleigh from 1992 to last year were built outside those years. More than 90 percent of Johnston County homes tested from 1997 to 2003 were built outside the required period.

Operators -- big or small -- shouldn't be allowed to thumb their noses at the sensible and clear laws on lead testing. The state must make them toe the line. And state agencies charged with protecting public health need to do a better job of alerting each other when danger surfaces.

Close oversight is needed, and the legislature will betray the public if it fails to give the Department of Health and Human Services adequate staff to do the job right. Governor Easley's administration already has taken some positive steps in response to The N&O's digging, but it can and should make this a top priority issue. Easley himself needs to argue forcefully for funding and for strict enforcement of existing laws -- to make sure the state does its duty with regard to the safety of drinking water.