Water system in EPA headquarters building contaminated, agency says

Source: Scripps News

Posted 7:20 PM, Aug 29, 2024


A U.S. government agency has detected contaminated water supplies at a Chicago building that houses a regional headquarters for the Environmental Protection Agency.

In a statement to Scripps News, the EPA confirmed that the General Services Administration tested water supplies in the Metcalfe Federal Building, in which "nine fixtures were found to have water quality issues, including elevated levels of lead, copper, and Legionella." Three of those fixtures were in parts of the building occupied by the EPA's Region 5 headquarters staff. The GSA, which owns the building, told tenants it was working to address the problem.

The EPA says elevated levels of lead in drinking water can cause behavioral problems, lowered IQ and slowed growth in children and can cause cardiovascular and reproductive harm in adults. Copper in drinking water can cause gastrointestinal problems in the short term, and liver and kidney damage over long-term exposure.

Legionella is the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease and Pontiac Fever. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Legionnaires' disease is a severe pneumonia that can cause coughing, fever, headaches and shortness of breath. Legionella is typically spread through inhaled mist that may come from water infrastructure such as faucets, fountains and complex plumbing systems.

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/health/water-system-in-epa-headquarters-building-contaminated-agency-says

---

Many of the older federal buildings have what is basically, non-potable water (and that included the one I worked in). During an earlier renovation decades ago, they had installed newer (filtered) water fountains in my agency's GSA-owned building, but then years later, with the ARRA funding and a "historic" refurbishment of the interior, they took most of those out and put the "art deco period" marble ones back in (without filters), so back to the non-potable water issue. Our office (individual employees and not paid for by the agency) subscribed to monthly 5-gallon jugs of bottled water for a water cooler.