Little Action on Lead Warnings

Many D.C. Residents Remain Unaware of Problem

Vincent Hawkins Jr. buys bottled water, so lead isn't a problem. His ever-rising water bill does anger him. (Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

The expanding scope of the District's problems with lead-contaminated water during the past six weeks has obscured understanding of the issue for many residents, leaving them misinformed or apathetic.

Visits last week to households that participated in the District's voluntary lead testing program last year revealed scattered clusters of well-informed residents, but the conversations indicated that more residents remain largely unaware of lead's potential health risks. Few said they have discussed their results with neighbors, leaving those in untested households largely unaware that nearby homes tested high. Some said they didn't trust the water company or its motives, and many expressed a fatalistic exasperation about the problems, saying that possible water contamination ranks low among day-to-day concerns.

"I'm drinking the water the way I've always done," said Roland Kave, whose house in the 4600 block of Hayes Street NE tested at 105 parts per billion, seven times the maximum level under federal guidelines. "I'm frustrated with this, but life goes on. It's every man for himself."

After the problems were first publicized in late January, WASA officials said the contamination was confined to homes with lead service lines -- about 23,000 in all. But then some homes with copper service lines showed elevated lead levels, indicating a broader problem. City and federal officials last week said new rounds of testing would aim to develop a fuller picture of contamination problems throughout the city, not just in those homes believed to be served by lead lines.

In some neighborhoods, the problems have caused people to alter their routines and have spurred regular community meetings of residents struggling to keep up-to-date with the evolving issue. Evelyn Jackson, who lives in the 2000 block of Lawrence Street in Woodridge, said she hadn't been worried about lead before last week because some lead pipes in her home had been replaced, which she thought would have solved any problems. But when she learned that her home might still have high levels, she requested a test kit from WASA and was placed on a waiting list.

"We've been drinking bottled water for some years, but now I make sure we cook with it," said Jackson, who shares the house with her husband, 7-year-old son and great-grandmother. "It's a scary situation. Everyone in the neighborhood basically is buying water."

But even within the limited sample of homes tested last year, the city's efforts to communicate the problems and possible dangers have had limited success, door-to-door visits of several neighborhoods throughout the city showed.

WASA sent its test results to those who participated late last year and early this year; however, some residents said they weren't aware of their results until notified by reporters. Some said they might have simply overlooked a mailing.

Riffling through a stack of mail, Elizabeth Page was trying to figure out whether she had been given any special instructions after her 1927 rowhouse in Petworth was tested at 110 and 53 ppb on successive draws. She said she started drinking bottled water a few years ago, but still cooks with tap water.

"Every time I turn around they send me something else," said Page, who has lived in the house since 1969. "I haven't taken the time to read all this."

Some of those who did read mailings said they weren't really sure what they meant. Elizabeth Jones, who lives in the 4600 block of Hunt Place NE in Deanwood, got a letter saying her water tested at 31 ppb. The letter informed her that the result was higher than the federal action level, but she said she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Annie Resper, whose home on 17th Street SE in Randall Heights was tested at 710 ppb, also said she wasn't sure how to interpret her results until she sought out information on her own. Under federal regulations, when testing shows that levels exceed 15 ppb -- the action level -- a utility must take corrective action.

"It was very upsetting for me that they didn't just pick up the phone and say the lead in your water is very high and you shouldn't be drinking it," said the retired school cafeteria worker and mother of 10. "They didn't explain it to me. . . . They haven't been up-front with us and honest about what's going on."

Many residents said they had the impression that the problems were caused solely by the same lead service pipes that have been connected to their properties for decades -- a notion reinforced by WASA for several weeks after the problems first were publicized. Those residents said they didn't know that recent changes to the water's chemical composition are suspected to have made it more corrosive, causing lead to leach from pipes and fixtures into the water. Because they believed the problems were caused solely by the pipes, many adopted the same attitude: If I've had the same pipes for years and they haven't hurt me yet, why be concerned now?

"It doesn't make sense to me," said Ernest Fitzgerald, whose house in the 600 block of Emerson Street NW in Petworth tested at 41 ppb. "People have been living here 80 to 90 years in some cases, and it seems like they'd be having problems if it was bad for you. I'm wondering if WASA is just coming up with all this as a way to make money. . . . They lie to you so much, what can you believe?"

According to some residents, some test results themselves shouldn't be believed.

WASA's protocol called for residents to prepare the samples. Norma Johnson of the 800 block of 48th Street NE in Deanwood submitted water from a faucet she rarely uses instead of the filtered faucet on her sink "just to mess with them," she said. In Anacostia, Joanne Correira got a result of 301 ppb for her 1907 home, but she said her kitchen was undergoing renovation at the time of the test and the sink hadn't been installed. She said a neighbor who wasn't invited by WASA to participate in the test filled her vials with his water and left them on her doorstep. Correira said she thought the water came from neighbor McKinley Womack, but Womack said it wasn't his -- he got the water from another neighbor who was trying to capitalize on the $25 incentive.

No matter where the water came from, Womack said he's not concerned about the high result.

"I'm not worried," said Womack, 79. "I've been in the house since 1967 and raised six children there. I drink tap water. I'm paying for it. I like it. It's better than the water you buy."

Many of those whose water tested high said they hadn't talked about the results with their neighbors, and some of those neighbors said they had no idea lead problems affected their blocks.

"I haven't even discussed it with my neighbors," said Mae Rochester, whose Petworth home tested at 390 ppb. "We don't see much of each other in the winter time."

Ruth Silverstein, who lives across the street from Rochester on Farragut Street and who didn't participate in last year's test, said she was surprised to see that all but one of the 15 participating neighbors on her street received results over the federal action level. She said she hadn't talked to any of them about their tests.

"You always think you'll get away with not being involved," she said.

In some neighborhoods, however, residents have become very involved. In Woodridge in Northeast, some parents said they have sent bottled water to their children's schools and have been talking to each other about lead contamination at community meetings and via the Internet.

"People are upset that this has been allowed to happen and to go on without being rectified," said Anthony Hood, president of the Woodridge Civic Association. "What I've heard is, let's stop the blame game. We're very concerned and we want answers. Let's see what the quickest way is this can be rectified."

Hood, who said he works for the Environmental Protection Agency but not in the section dealing with water, said he helped organize a neighborhood meeting last weekend and invited WASA officials. They didn't come because they were busy, and he said he understood because "they can only go so far."

On Oliver Street NW in Chevy Chase, Evelyn Devlin and Carol Ido, who live across the street from one another, were surprised to learn during a recent conversation that their lead levels were significantly different.

The water in Devlin's house had lead levels reaching 350 ppb, while Ido's highest result was 29 ppb and her second draw reading was 11 ppb, under the EPA's limit. Then Ido remembered that last year she found a leak in her house's internal plumbing and replaced the pipes with copper. Although Ido's house still had a lead service line running from the water main to the property line, she figured that the removal of at least a portion of the lead pipes lowered her reading.

"I feel badly for people over the last six months, especially pregnant women or those who have little kids, who didn't know," Devlin said.

Health experts have warned that young children, pregnant women and nursing mothers are at the most risk to lead's harmful effects, though other residents expressed concern that their ailments might have something to do with lead. Winston Stanford of Petworth said he recently asked his doctor whether his shaking hands might be caused by lead; his doctor told him medication he had been taking after an accident was a more likely source, he said.

Edith Brock of U Street in Anacostia said she believes waterborne lead is exacerbating a skin condition. She said she has been boiling gallons of water before using it to bathe in; she was not aware that boiling the water doesn't remove lead from the water.

"Why are we charged so much for dirty water?" Brock asked.

That sentiment was widespread throughout the city, even from those who use bottled water for drinking. Vincent Hawkins Jr. of Petworth said he buys about 10 five-gallon bottles of water each month, but his WASA bills have still tripled in recent years.

"My retirement check doesn't go up that fast," said Hawkins, who is a retired city employee.

On U Street SE, James Faulk's lead levels were tested at 25 ppb. The retired utility worker, who used to work on gas lines, said he was disturbed by WASA's performance.

"I feel that they need to be held accountable," he said. "They knew it was a problem, and they didn't tell people about it until recently."

WASA officials on Friday protested the publication of the 6,000-plus test results. General Manager Jerry Johnson said the agency fears that private companies and others might prey on households with high lead levels. He said that residents should demand identification from any visitors claiming to be a WASA employee.

Staff writers D'Vera Cohn, Avram Goldstein, David Nakamura and Arthur Santana contributed to this report.