Fact check: Are nearly a quarter of America’s main pipes in Chicagoland?

President Joe Biden’s $ 2.7 billion infrastructure plan has drawn criticism from Republicans over what types of projects should be included under the “infrastructure” category.

Last week, CNN anchor Poppy Harlow posed the question to Senate Democratic Majority Whip Richard Durbin, who responded with an example from his home state of Illinois.

“Well, I can tell you, I do not exclude clean drinking water from the responsibilities of the government, but also not with dealing with public health issues, but also with creating jobs in America,” Durbin said. ‘And we have 23% of all the lead pipes in Chicagoland in America. You bet I want to clean up this water supply, and I’m considering the infrastructure. “

The city of Chicago has for decades required pipes connecting the water main to individual properties to be made of the toxic metal. It ended when lead lines were banned by the federal government in 1986, years after their use began to decline in many other places.

Biden’s proposal – called the U.S. Jobs Plan – seeks to eliminate lead pipes by allocating $ 45 billion to various U.S. Environmental Protection Agency programs.

Therefore, we asked ourselves whether Chicago and its surrounding area are really responsible for almost a quarter of the country’s lead pipes, as Durbin claimed.

Both Chicago and Illinois stand out, but national data are limited

While Chicago is unique when it comes to the number of known lead service lines, experts have told us that it is difficult to determine the accuracy of Durbin’s statistics because there is no national inventory.

“The vast majority of cities do not know exactly how many plumbing lines exist or where they are located,” said Maura Allaire, an assistant professor of water economics and environmental policy at the University of California, Irvine.

Joe LaPaille, spokesman for Durbin, told us in an email that Durbin “spoke incorrectly on CNN and said ‘Chicago’ instead of Illinois.”

“However, Chicago makes up a large portion of the lead service lines in Illinois and has more lead service lines than any other city,” LaPaille said.

LaPaille said Durbin got its statistics by highlighting figures by the EPA and the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmentally conscious non-profit group that insisted Biden’s government should speed up the removal of lead lines.

The EPA’s website offers an estimated range for the number of lead service lines in the country: six to ten million. Meanwhile, a press release from the Council for the Defense of Natural Resources set the range between 730,000 and 1.4 million for Illinois. To reach 23%, Durbin took the highest share of the state estimate and divided it by the low point of the national estimate, LaPaille said.

The EPA’s estimate of more than six million is based on survey data published in 2016 by the American Water Works Association, the group representing the water utility operators. The agency’s high estimate of $ 10 million comes from surveys conducted by the same group in the 1980s, and was adjusted to 9.3 million in a recent update for federal drinking water regulations.

According to Jeremy Orr, senior lawyer for the NRDC’s clean water initiative, the estimate of 730 000 also comes from the water utility group. The 1.4 million figure, by contrast, comes from more recent data reported by water system operators to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Illinois is one of four states that require operators to report the material of service lines in their system.

To reach 1.4 million for the state, the NRDC included both known lead service lines and lines of unknown material that could be lead. Another category included in the state EPA dataset allows water systems to list lines of unknown material that are not lead separately.

The number of perpendicular and unknown lines found in water systems in Cook County, where Chicago is located, and its five surrounding counties may be somewhat lower – but not much: 1 million of the state’s total 1.4 million are reported in the area.

The 23% estimate Durbin achieved for the state’s share is “not unreasonable,” said Tom Neltner, director of chemicals policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, which analyzes Illinois’ approach to developing the stock. has.

“But it’s hard to be sure because the national number is so uncertain,” Neltner added.

By taking the 1.4 million pipes in Illinois that are or may be lead, and dividing it by the EPA’s updated estimate of the top 9.3 million, the state’s share, for example, is reduced to 16% and the Chicago area up to 11%.

Our verdict

Durbin said “we have 23% of all lead pipes in America in the Chicagoland area.”

His office told us he intends to refer to the entire state, rather than just Chicagoland. However, most lead pipes in Illinois are found in Chicago and surrounding provinces, so Durbin is not far away.

The bigger problem with his claim comes compared to the country. Unlike Illinois, which requires water systems to report how many pipes are or may be lead, there is no national stock to compare. The poll estimates cited by the federal government are broad, and both Illinois and Chicago’s estimated share of the total varies considerably, depending on the end of the series.

We rate Durbin’s claim Half True.

---

HALF TRUE – The statement is partially accurate, but omits important details or takes things out of context.

Click here for more information on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we choose facts to check.