Urge Mayor Lightfoot to replace Chicago’s lead service lines and protect residents!

Chicago has more lead service lines than any city in the country. Because of this many of Chicago’s residents are at risk of exposure to lead, a dangerous neurotoxin which is most harmful to our children and can have multi-generational impacts.

This is an urgent crisis. There is no safe level of lead in the human body. The longer Chicagoans wait for lead service lines to be replaced, the more families could be exposed to lead contamination and face life-threatening health risks.

The City of Chicago has a program intended to replace the city’s lead service lines, but progress has been extremely slow, with only 180 of over 400,000 lead service lines replaced–less than one-tenth of one percent. This is unacceptable. Each day Mayor Lightfoot continues to kick the can down the road vulnerable residents and children are being exposed to lead. There are billions of dollars in federal and state funds available to address the lead problem, but Chicago has been slow to tackle this issue.

Send an urgent message to Mayor Lightfoot demanding the City accelerate the replacement of lead service lines and protect the health of residents!

Chicago has more lead service lines than any city in the country. Because of this, many of Chicago’s residents are at risk of exposure to lead, a dangerous neurotoxin which is most harmful to our children and can have multi-generational impacts.

The City of Chicago has a program intended to replace the city’s lead service lines, but progress has been extremely slow, with only 180 of over 400,000 lead service lines replaced–less than one-tenth of one percent. This is unacceptable. Each day Mayor Lightfoot continues to kick the can down the road, vulnerable residents and children are being exposed to lead. There are billions of dollars in federal and state funds available to address the lead problem, but Chicago has been slow to tackle this issue.

Send an urgent message to Mayor Lightfoot demanding the City accelerate the replacement of lead service lines and protect the health of residents!

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Your Message

Subject Replace lead service lines in Chicago

Dear Mayor Lightfoot:

Message Body

As a Chicago resident, I'm writing to you with great concern over the staggering number of lead service lines still in use in our city, as well as the lead exposure that residents and children face on a daily basis.

Chicago has over an estimated 400,000 lead service lines, and lead exposure is disproportionately harming communities of color. This is the largest amount of lead service lines of any city in the nation, largely a result of Chicago requiring residents to use lead for their service lines until 1986.

Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that does irreversible damage to our bodies and minds, with no safe level of exposure. And the impacts of lead exposure are especially dangerous to children and can be multi-generational, posing a risk to current as well as future generations.

This is a public health emergency. We need urgent action to replace Chicago’s lead service lines as well as protect residents. Current efforts have not been sufficient, with only about 180 lead service lines replaced in the last two years, or less than one-tenth of one percent of these lead pipes having been replaced.

I implore you to take the following steps to ensure lead service lines are replaced quickly and protect the health of Chicagoans who are at risk of lead exposure:

* Immediately adopt and implement an equitable, aggressive plan to fully replace ten percent of the city’s lead service lines per year at no direct cost to individual residents, using resources from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, American Rescue Plan Act, other federal and state funding, and ratepayer funds.

* Provide certified filters (and replacement cartridges) for at-risk residents with young children or pregnant people who have lead service lines.

* Work with the city council and, if necessary, state officials to allow residents to approve the replacement of the lead service line, as opposed to the property owner, so that renters’ health is not beholden to their landlord.

* Eliminate any permit impediments to lead service line full replacement

* Ensure that the city Department of Water Management strengthens the Utility Bill Relief program and takes all other necessary steps to ensure low-income Chicagoans can afford their water bills.

Thank you,

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