A new report from Beyond Plastics on the perils of PVC pipes warns against their use for drinking water. The timing is critical. The Biden administration and Congress have provided $15 billion to municipalities that need to replace their lead service lines, old pipes that deliver drinking water to homes, schools, and businesses.
Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics’ president and a former regional administrator for EPA, applauds the administration for this much-needed funding; these pipes, mostly found in older cities and buildings built before 1986, are a significant source of lead in drinking water. Lead, a neurotoxicant, is especially of concern for babies in utero and kids. As the scientific community has long agreed, there is no safe level of lead. Everyone from the CDC to the American Academy of Pediatrics concur. Enck hopes removal at schools and childcare centers will be prioritized.
States all across America will make use of these federal dollars, especially those with the most lines in needs of replacement: Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, and Tennessee. EPA will send money to the states, and it will be up to local governments to be in charge of replacing the pipes. Unfortunately, EPA is not providing guidance on safe replacement materials, and PVC pipes will, unfortunately, be used by default.
PVC Should Not Replace Lead
At a press conference announcing the report, Enck strongly recommended against PVC pipes for the delivery of drinking water, citing health concerns. PVC has been linked to increased risk of liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphoma and leukemia, according to NIH. EPA has called vinyl chloride a human carcinogen. “According to EPA, drinking water may contain PVC released from contact with these pipes,” said Enck.
Dr. Shanna Swan, an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Environmental Health Sciences, was also in attendance. She said PVC exposes humans to many chemicals of high concern. “I am concerned about these chemicals and the prospect of them leaching into drinking water,” she noted, adding specific concern about exposure during early pregnancy when rapid cell division takes place and organs form.
Federal agencies have banned the use of PVC in various consumer products but not—yet—for pipes that deliver drinking water to homes. “PVC is the worst of the worst plastic,” Enck said. As a reminder, vinyl chloride was one of the chemicals that burned in East Palestine, releasing dioxins.
What Should Replace Lead
Beyond Plastics recommends unlined copper pipes, preferably made from recycled copper, and stainless steel as safe substitutes for PVC pipes. There’s a sense that PVC pipes are cheaper, and they may be moderately less expensive. But Enck cautions this line of thinking is “dead wrong!”
She added, “The price is paid widely and for decades through health care costs and tax dollars. The major costs on these projects to replace lead service lines go into labor and ripping up sidewalks, not necessarily the cost of pipes.” Copper is doable on a large scale. Enck said Newark, New Jersey, recently replaced lead service lines with copper, and Troy, New York, will soon follow suit.
Enck is calling on EPA to conduct research on materials and water variables and to get involved in overseeing pipe companies. At present, pipe safety is self-certified by the companies that manufacture them—not a transparent process. As a reminder, federal drinking water standards test at the reservoir, not at the tap in homes, so won’t reveal leaching chemicals from new service lines.
“Once they are installed, people will be getting water from them for many decades. No one can say how well plastic pipes will hold up. Disinfectants can age plastic pipes and release microplastic and chemicals into drinking water,” said Enck. When PVC pipes burn during house or wildfires, they can release even more chemicals into the environment.
Environmental Justice
PVC isn’t only of concern in drinking water, it’s toxic from manufacture to disposal, and not everyone has equal exposure. Communities closest to and people who work at PVC manufacturing facilities are exposed to higher levels of PVC and its chemical components. Communities of color are more likely to live near these facilities. “PVC has profound impacts on communities and communities of color. Let’s not create one problem while solving another,” said Mike Schade, director of the Mind the Store campaign at Toxic-Free Future.
Schade hopes a recent report from Toxic Free Future, which refers to PVC as “poison plastic,” this Beyond Plastics’ report, and the recent disaster in Ohio will act as a wakeup call for local and state governments. Business can also help. Home Depot and other big box retailers can leverage their market power to get poison plastic off their store shelves. Imagine a world where PVC pipes aren’t readily available at every local home improvement store.
In the meantime, Enck urges the public to get involved with lead service line replacements now, before the final decisions are made. Beyond Plastics’ easy-to-read report is just the thing to share with local elected officials to raise awareness about safer materials before they use federal dollars to purchase PVC replacement pipes.