A preponderance of local homes have lead in their water, if the startling results from tests by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans are representative of the entire city. For months, the nonprofit Water Collaborative collected water samples from homes across Orleans Parish.

Eighty-eight percent of homes tested positive for lead. 

The results, though startling, were not a complete surprise. “New Orleans, like many places in America, is known for its outdated infrastructure, including lead service lines,” said Rebecca Malpass, director of policy and research at the Water Collaborative.

The results, released Saturday, a day after the Sewerage and Water Board released its lead-pipe inventory that contained little real information, raise questions about how swiftly – and effectively – the troubled agency can replace lead pipes here, to meet new federal rules and avert lead’s serious effects, especially during childhood and pregnancy. 

Lead is a toxic metal, used in plumbing for over 2,000 years, that contaminates drinking water through the corrosion of lead pipes and fittings. In Louisiana, a ban on lead pipes took effect in 1988 through the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. 

But the legislation did not mandate the removal of existing lead infrastructure. 

This left New Orleans, and many other cities across the country – most infamously, Flint, Michigan – with legacy lead pipes that could harm public health. To mitigate lead exposure, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) adds calcium hydroxide (lime) to drinking water to control the corrosion of pipes. 

Earlier this week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a final rule requiring drinking water systems to identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years. But first, cities have to outline how much their water systems rely on lead pipes, and how much lead and copper is leaching into local drinking water.

On Friday, in compliance with the new rule, SWBNO released an inventory of the city’s lead pipes. (Residents can look up their address on the city’s map.) The citywide inventory reveals both verified non-lead water lines and those that contain lead, shown in red. But for the majority of services lines, SWBNO has little-to-no known data. 

Tests show that water leaving SWBNO’s treatment plants is lead-free and treated for corrosion control. But the water then travels through the city’s vast plumbing system, made of unknown material. Judging from the newly released results of the Water Collaborative’s tests, that route must contain a high number of lead pipes that are corroding into the city’s drinking water, as it gushes out of household taps. 

SWBNO plans to begin searching for a contractor next month to manage the replacement of lead services, which run from the street to property lines, and will begin that work in late 2025. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements will start in 2027, meaning the 10-year replacement timeline stretches until 2037. Tied to those improvements is a $50 billion pot of federal money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Some of that infrastructure money will eventually make it to New Orleans. But the SWBNO said that it will not wait for a federal award to start its lead-removal program. The utility has secured $86 million from the State Revolving Fund to begin lead service line replacements and is applying for an additional $66 million. Some of the first inspections and replacements will be in the city’s roughly 300 schools.

Malpass acknowledged the value of the first steps nationally and locally. “We applaud the Biden Administration and Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to push for safer drinking water for all Americans through the newly released lead and copper rule improvements and are encouraged to see a first draft of the Sewerage and Water Board’s lead service line inventory,” she said. “But the work is only just beginning.” 

Filtering water in schools with lead pipes

Children are at the greatest risk of health problems from lead exposure. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe level of lead in a child’s blood.

Typically, the legacy lead pipes are service lines transferring water into a home or school, said Mary Jean Brown, an assistant professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

Lead is most likely to leach into standing water left to sit in those pipes while the system is not in use. “If the water is warm, which could be the case in New Orleans, lead leaches faster,” she said.

“Generally, the service lines leading to larger institutions like schools tend to have larger diameters and are less likely to be made of lead as compared to residential buildings, where many childcare/daycare facilities are housed,” said Taya Fontenette, policy and research coordinator for the Water Collaborative. 

In 2016, the New Orleans school district and state district officials promised to test all schools’ drinking water for lead. But a year later, the water had still not been tested and officials devised a new plan: install filters. 

In 2017, The Lens found the school district abandoned plans to test school drinking water for lead after SWBNO raised questions. The district and utility disagreed about the lead threshold at which to take action — 10 parts per billion or 20ppb. Experts said testing only shows one moment in time and that filters were a better long-term solution.

In 2018, the district began installation, though some schools encountered problems with the water pressure needed to push water through the filters — especially on higher floors in older buildings. Overall, filters were installed on school drinking fountains to remove lead from the water. Initial plans to also filter out microbes that could enter drinking water during boil-water advisories were scrapped – because that filter needed nearly four times the water pressure than the city agency is required to provide. More complicated and costly filters were also installed on school-cafeteria supply lines.

Officials said the filters would “ensure that the lead levels are certainly below [the] action level by the EPA, which is 15 parts per billion.” Since then, the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements have reduced the threshold for taking action from 15 to 10 ppb.  

Advocates have long pressed for tighter action thresholds, to prevent harm to young minds and bodies. “The EPA’s new lead rule will begin to reverse the massive public health disaster of lead-contaminated tap water that has affected generations of our children,” said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement.

It took three years to finish installing the filters. 

Copper and Lead in Orleans Parish Homes

The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans tested 286 water samples from 144 homes across Orleans Parish. 

None of the samples exceeded the EPA’s action level of 1.3 parts per million for copper.

But the vast majority of homes (88%) tested positive for lead. Most homes tested also exceeded the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation for lead levels in school drinking water. The academy suggests a limit of one part per billion – and 68% of homes tested exceeded this threshold.

About 8% of homes exceeded 15 ppb, the EPA’s previous lead action level. One home built after Louisiana’s 1988 ban on lead pipes exceeded the EPA’s action level. This may be due to a discrepancy in the designation of “lead-free” plumbing, Water Collaborative experts said, noting that, until 2014, fittings and faucets could contain up to 8% lead and still be labeled “lead-free.”

Lead levels varied across the five districts, with Districts A, C and D showing 15 instances of drinking water samples exceeding the EPA’s action threshold of 15 ppb. That is more than the two exceedances reported by SWBNO in their 2023 Consumer Confidence Report.

The Water Collaborative testing asked residents to let their taps sit unused for six hours to ensure that water samples were in contact with pipes for a sufficient time. “Without the stagnation period, the tests may potentially underestimate potential exposure,” Fontenette said.

“This summer, the Water Collaborative found lead in nearly 90% of the home tap water systems we tested,” said Malpass, of the Water Collaborative. “While organizations like ours can collect and publicly share data, government and utility action is urgently needed to address this decades-long problem as soon as possible. Lead service line replacement and community awareness are critical next steps.”

SWBNO estimates that costs for the complete removal of lead service lines, as outlined by the EPA’s improved lead and copper rule, will top $1 billion.

But first, they must know more about the makeup of water-system pipes, Malpass said. “The Sewerage and Water Board’s map demonstrates just how much we do not know.”

The Water Collaborative’s Lead Study has ended for 2024. The nonprofit is conducting a PFAS and heavy metals study this fall, but openings are limited for Orleans Parish as the testing will span 7 parishes. Here is the Interest Form.