AP – While Detroit, a city that went through bankruptcy, made the decision to remove all of its lead water pipes to prevent lead poisoning, the city of Chicago opted to leave many lead pipes in the ground. Lead damages intelligence and problem-solving skills and causes a host of other health effects. Chicago officials said the work is expensive and sometimes contentious and it spent its limited funds elsewhere, for example, addressing lead in paint. That decision, however, has left Chicago with the distinction of having more lead pipes still in the ground than any other American city. Lead pipes that carry drinking water are a major source of exposure to the metal and the damage is often permanent.
