84% of Chicago's Pipes Contain Lead — and They're Not Equally Distributed

“Chicago has the highest number of lead water service lines in the nation, with an estimated 412,000 of about 491,000 lines at least partly made of lead or contaminated with the dangerous metal,” according to an article in Inside Climate News, who worked with Grist and WBEZ to map where these pipes are and which neighborhoods they impact most. 

While the problem is spread throughout the city, majority Black and Latino neighborhoods have the highest concentrations. “In majority-Latino census tracts, areas that in Chicago average around 1,500 households each,  92 percent of service lines require replacement. In majority-Black tracts, the figure is 89 percent. That compares to 74 percent of service lines in majority-white census tracts and 65 percent in the city’s nine majority-Asian tracts in and around Chinatown.”

While the city offers a subsidy program for lead line replacement, not all residents who need it can access it. “Factors such as barriers to internet access, water shut-offs, poor plumbing infrastructure and a lack of disposable income to deal with those issues can all exacerbate the impact of a community’s lead service lines on its residents.”

Since the city required lead pipes until a 1986 national ban, the problem also extends to wealthier neighborhoods. “In Forest Glen, a community with the second-highest median household income in the city, 91 percent of service lines require replacement.” Now, the city is working to replace pipes, but says it needs more funding to accelerate the project.