[Mintwood-place] Graham: DC WASA Water Safety Analysis

[Jim Graham]

Dear Mr. Forman,

I apologize for the unusual delay in responding to your follow-up email. We are swamped.

Since 2004, DCWASA continued to rely on the CDC's faulty 2004 report to show that kids had not been exposed to dangerous levels of lead in our water. To my knowledge there were no subsequent reports issued by the CDC that either expanded on or contradicted the 2004 report. DCWASA's failure was in relying exclusively on the CDC's faulty report despite warnings from the lead advocates and common sense.

For your reference, I point you to Carol Leonnig's May 21, 2010 article in the Washington Post which characterizes the failure accurately:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/20/AR2010052005173.html

I am in this email including the General Manager of DCWASA, Mr. George Hawkins, in case he wants to weigh in.

Bests,

Jim Graham


I typically answer emails before 9 AM on weekdays. If you email me after that, it is likely that you will hear from me the next weekday. If there is a need to communicate prior to that, you may wish to call me. For most effective communication, please use my direct email address: jim at grahamwone.com<mailto:jim at grahamwone.com>

Jim Graham, Councilmember, Ward One, 1350 Pa. Ave., NW, #105, Washington, DC 20004. 202-724-8181; 202-724-8109 (fax).

Chairman, Committee on Public Works and Transportation (including alcohol regulation). Main Committee Number: 202-724-8195. 1350 Pa. Ave., NW, #116, Washington, DC 20004.

Voting Member, Board of Directors, WMATA/Metro.

Website: www.grahamwone.com<http://www.grahamwone.com/>


From: matt forman [mailto:matthew.forman2 at verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 8:06 AM
To: Jim Graham; AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com; mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org; george.hawkins at dcwasa.com; wwalker at walkerdunlop.com
Subject: Re: Re:Graham: DC WASA Water Safety Analysis

Councilmember:

Again, I would be grateful for clarification.  Perhaps I have missed something in the variuos reports, but from what I can gather, the allegation is that the CDC mislead the public in its 2004 report with respect to blood level data acquired in 2004 and prior years.  I could not find any allegation that the CDC issued additional misleading reports after 2004.  If not, then what do you mean that WASA kept assuring you that the CDC said the water was safe after 2004?  Did they keep mentioning the 2004 report for the last 6 years, or did they refer to later reports?



----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Graham<mailto:Jim at grahamwone.com>
To: matthew.forman2 at verizon.net<mailto:matthew.forman2 at verizon.net> ; AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com<mailto:AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com> ; mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org<mailto:mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org> ; george.hawkins at dcwasa.com<mailto:george.hawkins at dcwasa.com> ; wwalker at walkerdunlop.com<mailto:wwalker at walkerdunlop.com>
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 5:42 PM
Subject: RE: Re:Graham: DC WASA Water Safety Analysis

Dear Mr. Forman,

Thank you for a copy of your email to the Adams Morgan list serve. As I noted in my posting, in hearing after hearing since 2004, we have repeatedly confronted DCWASA with the results of several scientific studies which show that there was indeed lead in our water.

Those hearings gave key opportunities to tireless advocates such as Marc Edwards from Virginia Tech. Through our oversight efforts, we were getting the message out that despite DCWASA's assurances, we needed to test our water, flush our pipes, and reign in the partial lead pipe replacement program until we had a better grasp of the lead crisis.

Time and again I confronted DCWASA with these facts and we were assured that, according to their information from the Centers for Disease Control, lead from our pipes was not poisoning our children. We were told, therefore, that our water was safe to drink. I directed the establishment of a DC WASA/DDOE taskforce to conduct an independent study of the safety of the drinking water.

The most recent Washington Post article was the worst kind of vindication for our long held view that there was lead in the water our children were drinking. This is a failure at all levels, from the agency that we trust to make our water safe, and to inform us when it is not, to the Federal agencies we trusted to tell us when our children have been poisoned. Yet again, we are using the children of the District of Columbia as lead detectors, and this is simply unacceptable. This is why I have again called upon our water agency to take local control and accountability for this issue and ensure that our water is safe to drink.

That was the crux of my message the other day and the focus of our oversight over the years.

Bests,

Councilmember Jim Graham


I typically answer emails before 9 AM on weekdays. If you email me after that, it is likely that you will hear from me the next weekday. If there is a need to communicate prior to that, you may wish to call me. For most effective communication, please use my direct email address: jim at grahamwone.com<mailto:jim at grahamwone.com>

Jim Graham, Councilmember, Ward One, 1350 Pa. Ave., NW, #105, Washington, DC 20004. 202-724-8181; 202-724-8109 (fax).

Chairman, Committee on Public Works and the Transportation (including alcohol regulation). Main Committee Number: 202-724-8195. 1350 Pa. Ave., NW, #116, Washington, DC 20004.

Voting Member, Board of Directors, WMATA/Metro.

Website: www.grahamwone.com<http://www.grahamwone.com/>

From: matt forman [mailto:matthew.forman2 at verizon.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 8:24 AM
To: AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com
Cc: Jim Graham; mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org
Subject: Re:Graham: DC WASA Water Safety Analysis

Jim - Can you clarify your previous message?  You state that CDC misled the District about lead levels in our drinking water.  But it appears from news reports, the CDC website, and the House Science Committee's report that the CDC's role was limited to testing blood lead levels in children, not lead levels in the water.  It seems to me that testing the lead levels in the water was WASA's responsibility, under your committee's oversight.

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