In the News | Get the Lead Out, Pittsburgh

Workers pull out old lead pipe in Pittsburgh

September 21, 2020

Pittsburgh officials to hear from outside experts about how to tackle lead issues

Tribune-Review – Children who live in Pittsburgh remain more likely to have higher lead levels than those who live in other areas of the country, according to the Allegheny County Health Department. City officials are working to change that trend. For several years, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority has worked to replace lead service lines and is working...

Woman uses sensor to detect lead on banister

August 2, 2020

Lead progress but more work to do

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – It’s great news that the levels of lead in Pittsburgh’s drinking water have declined to the lowest point in 20 years, as reported in the July 23 article “PWSA: Lead Levels Greatly Reduced in City’s Water.” However, we should not rest on our laurels that our lead problems are over. Here in...

July 16, 2020

PGH Water and Sewer Authority Ordered To Pay $500k, Hire Independent Corporate Monitor

PennWatch – The Attorney General’s Office has entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) as part of its investigation into the company’s negligence that exposed residents to high levels of lead when the water authority was forced to replace old lead water pipes throughout Pittsburgh neighborhoods. By failing to inform...

July 16, 2020

PWSA settles with PA Attorney General over criminal charges

WESA – The settlement resolves criminal charges from February 2019, when Attorney General Josh Shapiro charged PWSA with more than 150 criminal counts for failing to provide customers with enough notice about lead line replacements and not providing post-construction test kits to all customers. As part of the settlement, PWSA has agreed to a two-year probationary period and...

July 16, 2020

Shapiro: PWSA to donate $500K, hire independent monitor for lead project failures

Tribune-Review – Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority will hire an independent monitor and make $500,000 in donations to organizations that promote safety for those exposed to lead in old water pipes as part of an agreement, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Thursday. PWSA unnecessarily exposed people to increased lead levels in their drinking water...

July 16, 2020

PWSA, state Attorney General’s Office reach settlement in lead contamination case

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – The state Attorney General’s Office said Thursday that it has reached a settlement with the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority over the agency’s handling of lead pipe replacements after high levels of the metal were found citywide in the aging system. Under the settlement, the PWSA must pay $500,000 to various organizations...

December 29, 2019

Boy’s lead poisoning pushes grandmother to assert tenant rights

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – The news was bad. Janel Nicholas’ toddler grandson was tested in June with an elevated blood lead level of 35 micrograms per deciliter. Since that day, she’s found herself in a struggle to establish a lead-safe environment, taking what may be a new legal path for other families to get landlords to...

November 19, 2019

Six Tips to Make Sure Your Child’s Holiday Toys are Safe

When the danger of lead poisoning is present in every corner of Allegheny County, how can you be sure the toys you’re buying are lead-free? December is National Safe Toys and Gifts Month and experts warn that lead in toys and costume jewelry could be hazardous. Get The Lead Out, Pittsburgh is here to help...

Young siblings on porch with Lead concerns

October 3, 2019

County’s Lead Safe Homes passed over for second HUD grant

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – For people working to protect children from lead-based paint hazards in the home, Allegheny County was regrettably not on the list of new grants announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The county still struggles to spend $3.4 million previously approved for its Lead Safe Homes program; it...

May 27, 2019

What do you do when the corner lot is full of lead?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Don’t go near the corner lot. That’s what Jackie Williams tells her kids — ages 11, 7 and 5 — when she takes them over to their grandmother’s house on Excelsior Street in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood. There’s lead in the ground there, the McKees Rocks resident knows. “And all these kids are...

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