A decade after the Flint crisis captured national attention, tens of thousands of US water transmission lines can still leach dangerous chemicals.
Despite the media coverage and outrage of residents in Flint, Michigan, communities around the country still face the risk of lead poisoning from corroded pipes, according to a report from Emily Kwong, Pien Huang, Rachel Carlson, and Rebecca Ramirez for NPR.
“In the last decade, the city's water quality has improved. Thousands of lead pipes in Flint have been replaced, but not all. That means that not every resident in Flint has clean, fresh water.” And the problem doesn’t stop in Flint. “A 2023 report from the EPA revealed that in 2021, lead made up 9% of the nation's service line infrastructure, representing an estimated 9.2 million pipes.”
Improvements to the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule proposed in late 2023 could finally require water systems to provide accurate information and enforce the replacement of lead pipes. However, a proposed exemption would give cities like Chicago an extension, letting them take multiple decades to replace infrastructure.
FULL STORY: 10 years after Flint, the fight to replace lead pipes across the U.S. continues
84% of Chicago's Pipes Contain Lead — and They're Not Equally Distributed
The city’s Black and Latino communities are most impacted, but the issue is widespread across the city’s water distribution network.
Replacing lead pipes in Chicago costs more than 6 times the national average — and authorities can't explain why
Replacing one lead pipe in Chicago costs around $31,000, while the national average cost sits at around $4,700 per line.
An Equity Approach to Lead Pipe Replacement
A former Chicago health commissioner calls on governments to prioritize the most marginalized and historically disinvested communities when distributing funding to replace lead pipes, which have taken the highest toll on the health of disadvantaged c
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association