1.28.2009

LEAD (Pb) Follow or Get Out of the Way



POP QUIZ.

From 2001-2003, what cost more--a gallon of unleaded gas, or a gallon of unleaded water in the District of Columbia?

If you said a gallon of gas, you'd be correct, because YOU COULDN'T EVEN PURCHASE THE LATTER.

I know, you've probably made jokes about the poor quality of water in D.C. Such as OMGZ! I BETTER BUY SOME MORE BOTTLED WATER, I WON'T DRINK THIS SWILL. Or perhaps, MORE PERRIER, PLEASE!

Unfortunately, this is actually serious. In case you missed the front page article in the Post yesterday about all of this...

Authors of the study, at Virginia Tech and Children's National Medical Center, said their findings raise concern about the 42,000 D.C. children, now ages 4 to 9, who were in the womb or younger than 2 during the water crisis. Those children might be at risk of future health and behavioral problems linked to lead, the report said.

The study, based on a detailed analysis of thousands of children's blood tests from 2000 to 2003, contradicts the public assurances issued by federal and D.C. health officials starting in 2004. At the time, although officials acknowledged that the amount of lead in city water were at record-breaking levels, they said repeatedly that they found no measurable impact on the general public's health.




This is just another example of this horrific trend of complete, utter and sheer incompetence in government. Back in 2003-2004 when people were talking about this, the best solution WASA had for most residents was to SEND THEM COUPONS FOR WATER FILTERS. For the latecomers, I'm actually not joking about that. Here's a Britta, sorry about a few years of contaminated water.

You know what sounds good with some DC tap water? How about some paint chips. Or maybe some slugs, you can pick some up in Virginia at a gun range. Suck on a few of these.

Back in 2003, the WASA Water Quality Manager, Seema S. Bhat was fired after notifying the EPA about the dangerous levels of lead in the District's water. In 2005, she was reinstated at WASA, with back pay. This article has a bit more info about that. While normally this site is about spewing hate, I have to give it to Seema for stepping up.

From that same article, in 2005:

Post writer David Nakamura reports that the two men who recommended Ms. Bhat's termination -- Kofi Boateng, her supervisor, and Michael A. Marcotte, WASA's deputy general manager -- are no longer with the agency.


In case you were wondering, Marcotte is now in charge of public works for the City of Houston. I can't find any information about Kofi Boaten.

Glad to see justice was served.

10 comments:

  1. Cant wait to see all of the recent arrival (within the past 5 years) wannabe hip wannabe urban transplant scumbags comment about this one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The degenerative effects of the lead don't take effect until 10 years into your stay here in Arlington's favorite suburb. That's what the WASA flyers said. It continues, "After such time you are to immediately surrender your literacy to a City Official before entering the Matrix."

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wonder what kind of water Starbucks uses. I know, I know: they sell far more milk than coffee. Good to know their infantile clientele is getting a double dose of what it deserves.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Whenever I'm in a restaurant and the waiter asks me about my water choice, I love to tell him, "Whatever you have on tap, my good man."

    I dated a girl who gave her dog bottled water. Jesus.

    ReplyDelete
  5. whatever. if the tap water doesn't contaminate you, high fructose corn syrup will.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haven't you heard!!! High Fructose Corn Syrup is safe in moderate amounts!!! Like in this popcicle.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. In 20 years, better air standards have increased life expectancy by five months.

    I'm still critical of people w/ their fancy metal water bottles, tho.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Actually, it's been discovered that high fructose corn syrup has high mercury levels.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. I hope all of the recent arrival wannabe hip wannabe urban transplant scumbags all slip and fall flat on their ugly faces today.

    Either that or they are kicked, knocked and stomped to the ground by my DC public school children.

    Go the fuck back to Arkansas.

    ReplyDelete