...A shortage of activated charcol for water filters. But the good news is that after a few years of drinking leaded water most people won't bright enough to be bothered about it anymore.

The bad news is that as more people drink leaded water the Republican base will grow proportionally.

Water prices are far too low to even maintain our current infrastructure, much less reflect its actual value to our society. This feeds into the whole water-use-efficiency issue as well, which is the other giant worldwide disaster we're headed for, even if global warming is licked.

Anyways, with the increased fees, water companies will be able to get rid of the damn lead pipes to begin with, so a lack of phosphate-based corrosion inhibitors will be less of a concern. But they'll also have more money to keep buying such inhibitors as well.

Anyways, with the increased fees, water companies will be able to get rid of the damn lead pipes to begin with ...

I wish. Alas, with American management at the helm, the only infrastructure that is likely to be improved are the billing and executive compensation systems.

Think this story has any relation to the $100MM the oil companies have allocated to argue against renewable resources?

IF this can be proven and I'm sure with all the great science the EPA is doing now (teehee..) Where on the list of things that have happened in the last few years that are DESIGNED TO MAKE EVERYONE stupid do you put this??

Is the point that we may get untreated pipes?

Already just the 'idea' alone, of using ethanol has made a bunch of adults stupid. So it stands to reason the kids won't be too far behind. We need congressional hearings; senate oversight; scientific conferences; more regulation; UN intervention. Where the hell is the FDA and Al Gore when you need em'? This is a freakin' disaster!

and bring them with you. Filter that lead before drinking.

Eventually, it might be cheaper to replace the pipes.

Actually, you need cation-ion exchange filters to get the lead out. Carbon based ones (from what I know) don't do the trick.

The article is only describing a fact of life. Can't get phosphate cause it's getting scarce/pricey (fact) causes concern for lead in water supplies (a established poor outcome) which is part of a poor infrastructure (fact.)

Where I come from in my attitudes, you sat around the table and used your creativity to solve or otherwise change the outcome of problems/opportunities while you could have a choice as to how to do it. "Change while your strong (and while you can.)"

This is another problem of infrastructure (which is damn easy to conceive the fix for) but has the private gain/public risk written all over it; a seemingly mainstream political/economic meme nowadays. Public systems have lead in the pipes? Put a ten year plan in place and execute (including the perps if they don't perform.) Private property has old pipes poisoning people? Sorry, you gotta fix that or stop serving water. That put you out of business? Time to go.

Arguments of "that's not fair" and "it's too hard" and "Al Gore will save us (wtf?)" are sheer unadulterated whining by un-adults without the will to succeed. This isn't really a hard problem. Only changing the public risk/private gain meme is hard.

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you.

Lead in the pipes and the old paint of sub-standard (old) housing has damaged children's brains for decades. Fewer than half the states in the U.S. have mandatory testing of lead levels in school children's blood. See no evil...

This problem affects the poor disproportionately, as they have to live in the crappy, poorly maintained housing. The money needed only to survey the extend of the problem would come to about 5% of what we spend on Iraq in a week (wild guess). The costs in terms of low skilled workforce, violent crime, etc. no one really examines in this context.

Phosphate-based corrosion inhibitors are needed not just to prevent corrosion of lead pipes but also of iron pipes, which are far more common than lead pipes. Iron pipes can corrode very rapidly under some conditions and pipe replacement is expensive.

Replacing lead pipes is usually not a solution because lead contamination frequently originates not from lead service lines, but from lead content in brass valves, faucets, and meters. Brass alloys typically contain about 2.5% lead to "improve machinability." Low-lead brass alloys are becoming more available but there are lots of old fixtures in place.