Federal regulators are recommending that the city of Galesburg provide bottled water or filters to residents affected by high levels of lead in their drinking water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is also urging the city to pay for additional testing for lead for all customers who request that service. At last night’s City Council work session, City Manager Todd Thompson outlined $90,500 in proposed action which would include heightening public lead education, as well as providing water bottles, filtration and lead service line replacement at reduced or no cost to homes exceeding action levels.
Mayor John Pritchard says the city has been in conference calls with the Illinois EPA via communication with the federal agency. He tells WGIL before anything is done city administration wants “clarification from the state EPA.”
“Which I presume will be coming shortly,” Pritchard says. “We will, I suppose, we will need to start by giving that information to the council and figuring out what plans we might have.”
The EPA’s actions come in response to an investigation published this month by The Associated Press, argues that Galesburg has one of the nation’s most persistent problems of lead in the drinking water.
Records show the city’s water has repeatedly exceeded the federal lead-action level over the last 25 years.
In an April 20 letter, EPA official Tinka Hyde says the agency “will consider other options to protect public health” if the city doesn’t provide alternate water or filters.
Various City Council members and Knox County Public Health officials have largely stated they believe 80 % to 90% of high lead levels, specifically in children, to be attributed to lead paint, dust and chips.
UPDATED 5:26 p.m. 4/26/16 to reflect comments from Mayor John Pritchard. Copy edited from a report published by the Associated Press
