Proof of Lead in Everett Water
WASHINGTON ACTION FOR SAFE WATER
PO Box 2276, Lynnwood, Washington 98036-2276
Telephone 425-771-1110
James@WashingtonSafeWater.com
November 16, 2011
The last time I addressed the Everett City Council, I mentioned, as I frequently do, that there is lead in the silicofluoride added to Everett drinking water and that silicofluoride leaches lead from pipes.
Council member Jeff Moore took exception and said that I should not compare Seattle’s problem with lead in schools with Everett. He said that Everett schools had taken care of the lead problem.
In my efforts to inform the Everett City Council about the lead-arsenic-silicofluoride problem, I have noted that Council members just do not believe that their water contains lead – or arsenic. Council Member Paul Roberts, formerly a director of the Marysville Water District, has stated that Everett had the best water in the world, implying that it contains no lead or arsenic impurities.
So I looked through the documents returned to me in response to my 2008 Request for Documents.
I handed out copies of this particular document to the Council members, a 2006 water quality report, one of many documents which show there is up to .063 ppm lead in Everett drinking water, that is 63 ppb. See the item circled. Bear in mind that the same document shows that the EPA MCL – Maximum Contaminant Level – is 15 ppb.
Note also the information in footnote number 3. This lead level is measured at “178 consumer taps”. This information does not tell us the age of the houses and buildings in which these consumer taps are located.
A NSF letter from 2000 says that there can be up to 1.6 ppb lead in water after the silicofluoride is dilution 240,000 times to get the fluoride level down to 1 ppm. A 2008 NSF Fluoride Fact Sheet says the maximum is only .6 ppb. NSF Fact Sheets are updated only every three or four years. There has not been a new one since 2008.
Even if Everett has replaced all the lead bearing brass and galvanized pipes from its schools and all the brass fittings, it has not solved the problem. That is because there are still lead bearing pipes and fittings in homes, apartments, office buildings, commercial buildings, and churches. The typical lead level in brass pipes is 8.0% while for pipes installed before 1986 the level can be up to 30%.
Unless Everett is going to pay to replace all lead bearing pipe in all homes, apartments, office buildings, commercial buildings, and churches, it has not solved the lead problem in drinking water.
Further, Everett is failing to follow federal law, which requires that it give notice to water consumers of lead content in their water.