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

Mon Jun 21 14:02:12 EDT 2010

Dear Mr. Forman and Councilmember Graham,

Thank you so much for your inquiry. On behalf of the General Manager of
DC Water, I'm happy to answer some of your questions. And thanks as well
to Councilmember Graham for including us in this conversation-his office
has been an important voice on lead issues in the District and we look
forward to working with the Councilmember on our new strategies to
address this issue.

In reference to subsequent reports, CDC did publish a 2007 study that
contradicted its 2004 results, but only recently sent notice in
September 2009 of the results, which link partial pipe replacements with
an increased likelihood of elevated blood levels. To answer your direct
question, the 2004 report was cited for years after the fact.  

The heart of the recent controversy over the 2004 CDC study is whether
elevated lead in water levels contributed to elevated blood lead levels.
The CDC report, which was regularly cited until fairly recently,
asserted that blood lead levels in children did not rise as a result of
water.  In other words, the 2004 CDC study asserted that lead in water
was elevated, but didn't cause any poisoning cases.  Dr. Edwards' study,
as well as the recent Congressional investigation, have shown that this
declaration was a serious misstatement on public health impacts.  It had
a number of ramifications, chief among them, from our perspective, a
lack of sufficient past action and outreach on the part of DC Water from
a health-based perspective.  This lack of forthright information about
health impacts undermined public trust and customer confidence and DC
Water, under its new leadership, is committed to taking a new direction.

Councilmember Graham's message of the need for accountability and steps
to protect public health is exactly right.  As you may know, the new
General Manager of DC Water, George Hawkins, previously served as
Director of the District Department of the Environment, which is the
District's coordinating agency on lead poisoning issues.  As such, there
is a new emphasis from DC Water on the need to address lead in water as
a health concern, rather than solely as a corrosion and federal
compliance issue, as has happened in the past.  This includes giving
residents accurate information about their service lines and plumbing
within their homes, providing health-based information on ways to reduce
exposure, and treating lead in water as a serious exposure source,
worthy of the same attention paid to paint and dust.  DC Water has
recently launched an effort, in collaboration with community-based
advocates, to review and improve all of our outreach materials on lead
and fill any information gaps. We're also investigating changes to our
sampling and testing procedures to see whether we can better capture
potential health risks before they occur.  For more information, please
see the General Manager's recent testimony before the House of
Representatives, which addressed the CDC report and our subsequent
actions directly:

http://www.dcwater.com/news/testimony/2010_lead_hearing.cfm

We absolutely have work to do.  But we're hopeful that a renewed focus
on this issue, from a public health perspective, will help DC Water to
move forward and protect the public.  Should you have further questions,
I would be happy to discuss them with you-please let me know.  Thank
you!

Best,

Jill Wohrle

DC Water

Office of the General Manager

________________________________

From: Jim Graham [mailto:Jim at grahamwone.com] 
Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2010 8:33 AM
To: matthew.forman2 at verizon.net; AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com;
mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org; George S. Hawkins;
wwalker at walkerdunlop.com; shernandez at dccouncil.us
Subject: RE: Re:Graham: DC WASA Water Safety Analysis

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/AR201005
2005173.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

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 ; AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com ;
mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org ; george.hawkins at dcwasa.com ;
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

	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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