The decision to switch to a cheaper, less-effective treatment chemical was likely a major contributor to the recent spike in lead levels in Pittsburgh's drinking water.
Some say it's better corrosion control. Others say it's getting lead service lines out of the system altogether. But many observers agree that current federal regulations are totally inadequate.
Some fancy science, that's what. As in some inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy — a process that can analyze samples quickly and with super-accurate results.
How the state ended up with such a lousy record enforcing federal safe drinking water standards is hardly a mystery. A former DEP secretary says the solutions aren't complicated either.
Just how bad is it? A former state environmental regulator says deep cuts to budgets and staffing mean the Pennsylvania DEP is now "dangerously close" to not being able to fulfill its mission.
According to a new report, Pennsylvanians have filed around 9,000 complaints over the past decade, mostly over water contamination. And that number has increased dramatically in the fracking era.
Donna Carole Roberts was excited to move her family to Pittsburgh because of the array of services available to her son with autism. But the city's air pollution is putting a damper on their otherwise good impressions of the city.
