"We're here today because we're finally addressing an issue that should have been addressed a long time ago in this country — the danger that lead pipes pose to our drinking water," Mr. Biden said. "For too long, local communities have known how important it was to deal with this problem. It hadn't been given the national priority that it demanded though. I'm here today to tell you that I'm finally insisting that it gets prioritized and I'm insisting it get done."
~ Joseph Biden, next write-in candidate that'll win the next election.
I'm not quite sure what to say to this one. Out of nowhere you're dropping a ten year deadline for upending the entire decaying sewer infrastructure of the U.S in like, the last stretch of your career? The fuck?
bro the EPA is not going to exist in 10 years what do you mean be so for real rn
but yeah, this is a perfect encapsulation of dems' "progressive" policies. call for something that would be very good... if anyone ever makes the massive expenditure of government power and funds to get started on it. then hope that voters think you'll come up with a plan for doing that if the party ever wins again.
it took them like 6-ish years to replace most of the pipes i flint, MI.
10 years for the entire US? yeah sure.
Not like he has to keep his promises, he's not gonna be president (or possibly even alive) by then.
Branch's son Aidan suffered from lead poisoning while they were living in a home with lead in the paint, windows, pipes and soil. Her son's lead levels were so high they had to move out of the home and into a homeless shelter for almost three months while they searched for safe housing. Branch said the experience was terrifying for her son and left him with health issues he will have to face for the rest of his life.
We live in a insane world. In a just society this wouldn't have happened in the first place. Removing lead from homes and the water supply should have been a government initiative the second an alternative was available.
Even still, the idea that they had to live in a shelter for 3 months because their landlord couldn't be bothered to remove the lead in the rental is just another example of the vial and callous nature of landlords.
The Branch's live in a lead paint free home now, but they still have lead pipes.
"When I first started advocating there was a 50 year plan that went down to a 40 year plan, now there is a nine year plan to remove all the lead pipes in Milwaukee, Branch tells CBS News. "I should be alive to see the lead pipes being removed out of Milwaukee and that gives me hope for other places as well."
There is still more the Milwaukee community needs to live in a lead-free safe environment: more housing and more clinics.
Branch says there is not enough safe housing available in the community. Her old home where her son was lead poisoned was still being rented out as recently as a few years ago according to Branch. As for the Next Door Pediatrics Clinic where her son was first tested for lead positioning, it has since shut down, creating a healthcare gap in the community. Branch credits the work of the clinic for her youngest daughter being lead free.
Again no justice. The landlord wasn't forced to remove the lead from the house, and the local clinic that could diagnose these exposures was shuttered thanks to treating our public services like market services, subject to becoming insolvent and closing, leaving the community in a healthcare shortage. I guess the community should have been sick more often in order to keep the profits high enough to maintain the clinic.
There is a sense of shame for parents whose children suffered from lead poisoning, but Branch wants to remove the shame from the equation of asking for help.
"I want them to know it's not on you," says Branch. "We're not receiving justice, And it's a human right to have clean drinking water."
Personal shame is the default and expected emotion for our collective failings. You should have checked the house for lead. You put your child in danger due to your negligence. You are in charge of keeping your family safe, and no one else!
This is a manifestation of our hyper-individualist culture in one of its many twisted forms. Only you can prevent your family from getting lead poising!
"Yeah, I got like 10 Ukrainian dudes with a yacht. They should be able to take care of it within 2-3 years."Alternatively:
"Yup we're gonna rip them all out!"
"And then replace them with something safe, right?"
"Well, after they're out we're gonna...anyway..."
Hell, there's some pipes in Milwaukee that still have wood. They're ancient, but they hold on.
Wait, they still have lead pipelines in the US??! In 2024?!?
Next you're going to tell me they still haven't removed all the asbestos from homes yet too
every house in the US can only be made out of the following materials, much like beer under the German Purity law
- sawdust
- glue
- poison
- garbage
- plastic
From what I heard, many of the Firefighters that served during the 9/11 crisis are suffering from cancer caused by asbestos spread from the World Trade Center being on fire. So it seems as late as 2001, buildings had Asbestos.
We found out our home had asbestos in the floor and had to have it all taken out last summer.
We've lived here my whole life. I'm coming up on 40 in a few years. 🙃
AFAIK asbestos is not a problem at all until and unless you tear it apart. In that case it will be expensive to do it safely. But not a problem to use while the asbestos is encapsulated in the building materials.
The IRA already included a bunch of money earmarked for Flint, Michigan. It was celebrated when it passed! But the IRA allowed the government to "redirect" the money to another project if they wanted to. And guess what happened.
Sorry sweaty, the military industrial complex needs those jobs, so it's going to be depleted uranium pipes
biden trying to milk the one bill he's passed like ever for 10 separate "wins" over the course of his term is pretty funny. Except none of this is exciting at all it's just shit that should have been done decades ago having some money thrown at them to be soaked up by the sponge of private contractors and continue to remain an intractable problem
i personally hope theyre all replaced with flimsy plastic lined styrofoam
yeah, and then instead of lead from decaying lead pipes, we can have micrplastics from decaying plastic pipes :D it's future proof!
You know how you can just run many smaller lines to equate the flow rate of one larger line, right? So imagine instead of one sewer line converted to giant plex, it's like three dozen or so just regular sized plex lines running the sewage system, only they're brown instead of blue or red or white. That should do it. No need for a large pipe.
yeah, that wont be a problem when someone flushes one of those "flushable" wipes...
Dude, they're clearly marked flushable, I don't see what the problem is
I felt a great disturbance in the Force...as if millions of plumbers cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.
When winter comes it's perfect reaping season for contracts with cracked pipes.
As this is relevant to my job, here's the score:
This process has been coming for a few years now.
Some old houses had small sections of their "service line"- the pipe between the main and the internal plumbing of the house - made of lead. The amount of lead that leaches into the water depends on the chemistry (the Langelier Index) and the contact time. There is currently a requirement for regular testing to see if water that sits for 8+ hours leaches enough lead (& copper) to be dangerous if someone drinks it for 20 years.
The difficulty of replacement is that records from before the 60s are spotty and may not note the material of the line. This will require potholing in front of every house to try to determine the material.
My town was already planning this out, and was starting to get prices from contractors.
There is currently a requirement for regular testing to see if water that sits for 8+ hours leaches enough lead (& copper) to be dangerous if someone drinks it for 20 years.
Hold up, what if I live in a house for more than 20 years? Just get lead poisoning?
Just move to a different house with different lead pipes every few years, to reset the timer
The limit wasn't set at "definitely get poisoned," but "noticable risk." There was also the statistics saying the vast majority of people move before then or that the lines fail and need to be replaced anyways.
This was meant to balance safety with not bankrupting every small town for the poor decisions of the previous generation.
Wait this wasn't already a thing
How was this not already a thing
millions to anti-china propaganda, billions to ukraine and billions to isntreal takes more prominence than any domestic issue during a blue administration.
The US government is physically incapable of doing anything but print money and use violence. That's not even hyperbole, every arm of the government that used to be able to build stuff is hollowed out. If a president got into power right now and dedicated his agenda to upgrading infrastructure, they wouldn't be able to accomplish much because they'd have to hire everything out to private contractors who fleece the government. Or you'd have to build new agencies from scratch like FDR did, but he had four terms, the world's worst depression, and a world war to justify it.
It would cost a lot of money, and it wouldn't benefit the wealthy as much as tax cuts would.
Funny that he is saying this at the height of his lead addled brain decline.
A good joke answer would be that this is a massive pipe-gathering scheme by the construction lobby to sell it all off.
