No more ‘environmental racism’: Schumer says infrastructure bill will remove lead pipes city’s bowels

Brian Kavanagh

Originally published in amNY

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and fellow elected officials hold up pipes on Nov. 24 to symbolize lead removal. Photo by Dean Moses

Outside of a Lower East Side playground, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday announced that funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) will pave the way for a lead-free New York City.

Lead in drinking water has been significantly proven to cause irreparable harm to the human body, especially in children as they mature, which is why New York banned the use of lead pipes in plumbing in 1961 and throughout the United States in 1986. Even so, lead pipes still lay beneath the Big Apple’s streets, funneling tainted drinking water to thousands, especially those in low-income communities.