When You Visit Washington, D.C. Don't Drink The Water

[donsu]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13689-2004Feb27.html

Lead Fears Force D.C. To Expand Response
Pipe-Coating Chemical, Blood Tests Planned

District residents concerned about lead contamination can have their blood tested for free at D.C. General Hospital beginning this morning, and water filters will be distributed to hundreds of day-care centers by next week, city officials announced yesterday.

In addition, a team of water-quality experts is proposing to add a chemical to the system serving some city neighborhoods. The treatment, which would begin June 1 and expand if successful, is designed to reduce the lead content.

-snip-

The city also has four mobile vans that will be testing blood in spots across the city over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, the first batch of 300 water filters will arrive Wednesday and will be distributed free to day-care centers across the city, officials said. An additional 5,000 filters have been ordered for residents who live in the roughly 23,000 homes that WASA believes have lead service lines. Officials did not say how the filters would be distributed.

The united front officials presented at the news conference was designed to show that the city has used an interagency task force to coordinate the response to the lead problem. The task force, composed of city leaders, has met behind closed doors three times and will continue to meet weekly for at least another month.

-snip-

Schwartz said she also sent a letter to President Bush asking for additional federal resources to help the city's response. At the White House's daily media briefing yesterday, spokesman Scott McClellan was asked by a reporter whether the president drinks D.C. tap water.

"I'm not going to get into a discussion of the president's eating or drinking habits," McClellan responded, provoking laughs.
-snip-
----------------------------------


hey world - don't drink our water

gads, now we have to check out the bottled water companies to see if their water really is clean?

how many bushgang members own bottled water companies?