$300 Billion War Beneath the Street: Fighting to Replace Americas Water Pipes The New York Times

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said it received materials evaluations, used to determine testing sites, starting in 2017. It’s difficult, though, to say how significantly the spike in leaded water might have affected the children of Trenton because the population is so small. Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that poisons thousands of kids each year in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. The heavy metal was used for most of the 20th century in pipes, paint, gasoline and other household products. Missouri regulators had given the green light in 2014 for Trenton to start adding monochloramine to its drinking water to disinfect it without the harmful byproducts of chlorine. The small city of 29,000 saved $2.2 million by using plastic to replace its own 1930s-era water system after state regulators alerted the city to critically needed fixes.

According to the CDC, more than half of children in the U.S. are at risk of lead exposure – often in their own home. The CDC recently updated its blood lead reference value to better identify children with higher levels of lead in their blood. Whether it’s for flowers, dry herbs, or tobacco- savvy smokers have known about water pipes for millennia! Glass bongs filter and cool dry herbs or tobacco to provide a kinder, gentler smoking experience, often with internal percolators to create an even smoother smoke. Decades old drinking water infrastructure systems, declining water use, costs of regulatory compliance, and stagnant federal funding has resulted in many water utilities struggling to fund the cost of operations and maintenance of these systems. Funding for drinking water infrastructure has not kept pace with the growing need to address aging infrastructure systems, and current funding sources do not meet the total needs.

water pipes

If you like total customization of your water pipe, modular bongs are a great choice. Eyce Mini Silicone Beaker Bong just may be the ultimate choice water pipes in silicone beaker bongs. This miniature, travel-sized bong embodies everything that smokers love about silicone in one seven-inch-tall package.

Homes have a vent to help allow any odor escape outside instead of in your home. If you smell an odor inside the home, pour a gallon of water in the floor drain. Size is another factor to take into consideration when looking for your next water pipe. Bongs range anywhere from small, handheld sizes that can be less than 6” inches tall to massive bongs that stand over 20” inches tall and rest on the floor while you hit them! The bong size you choose should be based on your smoking needs and preferences. Smaller bongs are better for newer smokers as they are easier to operate, clean, and provide smaller, more manageable pulls.

Lightweight, easy to install, corrosion-free and up to 50 percent cheaper than iron, plastic pipes have already taken the place of copper as the preferred material for service lines that connect homes to municipal mains, as well as water pipes inside the home. With plastic pipes, the matter of potential drinking water contamination is less clear-cut. In the NRDC-led group’s lead-line-replacement principles, the copper-not-plastic item points to recent research suggesting that plastic pipes can potentially contaminate drinking water in three ways.

Some struggling community water systems have found success in voluntarily partnering with a larger water utility to access the capital and expertise needed to meet SDWA compliance. Low-income people and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to the glass pipes risks of lead-contaminated drinking water. Non-Hispanic Black people are more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic white people to live in moderately or severely substandard housing, which are more likely to present risks from deteriorating lead-based paint.

Some researchers say plastic pipes in the U.S. have not yet undergone the same degree of water quality and health scrutiny as pipes made of copper, iron, steel and cement. With these so-called legacy materials, methods to prevent or remedy leaching, permeation and other issues are well known, says environmental engineer Andrew Whelton of Purdue University. Colleges and graduate schools that train civil engineers and public health researchers have historically ignored the chemistry and manufacturing of plastic in their curricula on water quality issues, Whelton says. Utilities face the increasing challenge of keeping pace with emerging contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances , lead and copper in drinking water, and the regulatory requirements needed to remain in compliance with the SDWA. The EPA found that about 12% of water utilities’ needs are directly attributable to SDWA compliance. Utilities in more rural communities have a smaller rate-payer base, which results in less revenue and limited financial capacity to address aging infrastructure and compliance costs.

This style of bong is just a straight cylindrical tube, as the name implies. The simple design of a straight tube bong gives the user more control over the size of each pull, and the smoke produced inside the chamber is much easier to clear than a voluminous beaker bong. However, the smaller base makes straight tubes less stable and more prone to accidents. With a significant variety of colors, shapes, and patterns available, glass glass pipes have the most variation and some of the smoothest, most eye-popping colors you can find in any affordable smoking apparatus. Between 2004 and 2017, various sources estimate there were between 10 to 37 leaks and breaks per 100 miles of pipe.

Some material-related trends have emerged in examinations of specific contamination routes, however. Pipe material-related factors beyond those in the principles document can also contaminate drinking water. In March the anticipated surge of lead-pipe-replacement work prompted a group of 19 health and environmental advocacy organizations headed by the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council to publish a set of guiding principles for lead-line replacement. Amid numerous recommendations related to community involvement, safety and economic justice, the document takes a stand against swapping in pipes made of plastic and calls for copper lines instead. Polypropylene pipes are another good choice and are less expensive than copper pipes. Polypropylene is a durable, rigid plastic with less likelihood of chemical leaching compared to PEX.