Record #: R2016-454   
Type: Resolution Status: Failed to Pass
Intro date: 6/22/2016 Current Controlling Legislative Body: Committee on Education and Child Development
Final action:
Title: Call for hearing(s) on City compliance with federal Safe Water Drinking Act and Clean Water Act and protocols for lead testing and decontamination of water sources
Sponsors: Taliaferro, Chris, Sadlowski Garza, Susan, Reboyras, Ariel, Ervin, Jason C., Hopkins, Brian , King, Sophia D., Maldonado, Roberto, Solis, Daniel, Scott, Jr. Michael, Napolitano, Anthony V., Hairston, Leslie A., Waguespack, Scott, Quinn, Marty, Austin, Carrie M., Santiago, Milagros, Moreno, Proco Joe, Burnett, Jr., Walter, Sposato, Nicholas, Ramirez-Rosa, Carlos, Reilly, Brendan, Laurino, Margaret, Willie B. Cochran, Munoz, Ricardo, Beale, Anthony, Moore, David H., Moore, Joseph, Curtis, Derrick G., Silverstein, Debra L., Pawar, Ameya, Harris, Michelle A.
Topic: COMMITTEE/PUBLIC HEARINGS - Committee on Public Safety
Attachments: 1. R2016-454.pdf
Related files: R2019-362
Committee on Hoalth ond Public Safety-.
June 22, 2016 City Council Meeting

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Safe Water Drinking Act, Title XIV of the Public Health Service Act, requires that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgate and administer water regulations for contaminants, including lead, in public water supplies; and WHEREAS, Section 1413 ofthe Safe Water Drinking Act grant states primacy, or the authority of oversight and enforcement ofthe EPA's requirements, provided that the minimum standards and regulations set forth by the EPA are adopted and complied with as required by federal law; and

WHEREAS, the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago and its sister agencies are legally bound by the Safe Water Drinking Act and the EPA standards authorized within as the State of Illinois applied for and received primacy from the EPA, thus placing oversight, regulation and liability for any violation of EPA regulation on the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, EPA standards for drinking water mandate that maximum allowable levels of lead in drinking water are 15 parts per billion, and;

WHEREAS, to date, elevated levels of lead have presented in the water at fourteen Chicago Public Schools since testing began; and
WHEREAS, test results for hundreds more Chicago Public Schools have yet to be completed; and

WHEREAS, infants and young children "are particularly vulnerable to lead because the physical and behavioral effects of lead occur at lower exposure levels in children than in adults...dose[s] of lead that would have little effect on an adult can have a significant effect on a child..." and;

WHEREAS, the EPA further states that, "[i]n children, low levels of exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells...[b]ehavior and learning problems...lower IQ and hyperactivity, slowed growth, anemia...[and]...ingestion of lead c...

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