Lead Levels in New Orleans Water Rise, EPA Calls for Change in Testing

13:55 August 03, 2016
By: Taylor Lust

According to Nola.com, recent sample testing of New Orleans’ tap water has found that lead levels could be higher than originally thought.

In 2013, during the Sewage and Water Board’s last round of testing, it only found that one in 53 homes exceeded the threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

When recently tested, more than half of the water was found to contain lead levels that are higher than allowed.

NBC News had a lab test the tap water in 24 homes in the New Orleans area and found that the water contains extremely high levels of harmful, toxic lead.  The city’s original results relied on “first draw” samples, which require only the initial liter of water to be tested, which doesn’t provide in-depth results.

According to nbcnews.com, consuming too much lead can “dampen IQ, prompt behavioral issues, and cause high blood pressure.”

The EPA is considering changing the way it requires water systems to take samples, so as to provide more accurate, safer results in the future.

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