Milwaukee's Radical Solution to America's Clean Water Crisis

There’s a hidden crisis poisoning America’s kids. 9 million lead pipes across the country are contaminating our tap water. In some Milwaukee neighborhoods, 15% of kids have lead poisoning. That could be changing.
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[kdavidsmith]

This is exactly what PG&E does. "Oh no, we f*ck'd up and it is completely our fault and now we need to pay fines... And raise rates to make up for the fines and add an extra charge to do things we we're supposed to be doing."

[donnahersey]

I lived in Florida for several years. I watched as the beautiful springs with thousands of gallons of water flowing out of each of them got bought up by corporations like Coca-Cola because they knew clean water would be a very profitable commodity. I mean they bought them all over the state. Koch brothers built huge new plastic plants to distribute it. They knew the fear of tap water was creating a whole new, incredibly profitable market. I wouldn’t be surprised if they lobbied against helping municipalities and homeowners replace those old pipes.

[TheOtherOtherMike]

Indianapolis is actively replaced all of these lines from Biden’s Build Back Better Deal right now. Just had mine swapped out last week.

[meganswaine]

This is why infrastructure matters. This is why science matters. Why the EPA matters. Why any institution that looks after peoples' health and wellbeing matters.
This is also why it's important to elect officials that understand that.
The EPA was created under RICHARD NIXON, for chrissakes. This stuff didn't used to be partisan.

[jasonlacroix]

Spend my tax dollars on this and I won't object. This is why I don't vote for tax cuts.

[joshschaufele]

Must not be filed in the defense budget, just bill it to the pentagon

[ciaraconover]

Even if you're not drinking it, you're washing in it, cleaning with it, etc.

[TinaMcCall.]

Thank you for citing the 9 million miles of lead pipe statistic. I've been screaming about it for almost 30 years.

Our water mains waste 6 BILLION GALLONS of potable water PER DAY from leaks; not private business or home lines, WATER MAINS.

Let's get to work!

[UnitedCorporationsOfAmerica]

One thing we can all count on is America dropping the ball every single time something important needs to get done. Corruption, incompetence, willful neglect, and intentional indifference. Every time.

[greenviolist]

Hearing about how government funding went to local construction crews to improve their neighborhoods and quality of life gave me good feels I haven't felt in a long, long time. ❤
I am on board for that.

[MrTom-klhy]

Where I live the service line is the responsibility of the homeowner. How many rental units made billions for landlords, while they cheaped out on replacing those ancient lead service lines?

[CharlieNelson]

The disastrous decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act in the late 1990s led to the spectacular failure of huge banks during the financial crisis of 2007–2008. To prevent a future catastrophe, Dodd-Frank and this Act both need to be revived right away. What happened with SVB is just the start of what will happen if nothing is done to address the current problem.

[Monedgar]

From Milwaukee. My daughter at 3 had slightly elevated levels of lead. Thank goodness we caught it and started filtering and she shows no signs of trouble.

The Republican Wisconsin Legislature did NOT care. They still DO NOT care. Thanks to the Infrastructure bill, I am seeing progress in my community.

[jcehlert]

I grew up in Milwaukee, too. It's by design that Black folks suffer in this highly segregated city. Think about the problems and solutions, we have no excuse in the richest country in history to ALLOW this to happen. This story is exactly what equity is all about.

[janeayre]

The reduction of lead poisoning is directly connected to the lowering violent crime.

[k_tech]

I live outside of Milwaukee. I'm continually amazed and appalled how Milwaukee rushes to invest in shiny expensive projects like the replacement of County stadium and the Bradley center. Replacement of lead pipes? Nope, not cool or shiny enough. It has been criminally unfair to our citizens affected by this issue to have taken this long to address. THANK YOU Mandela Barnes for highlighting this and your efforts!!

[glenfredlund]

In a more perfect union Mandela Barnes would be my US senator. But I know he will commtomue to do all that is within his power to make this country a better place for all to live. Thank you Mandela.

[richardhead]

All utilities should be nonprofit and publicly owned, it would prevent price gouging and the negligence to communities.

[altruismisgone]

In Milwaukee here, I voted for Mandela Barnes, he would’ve been awesome. Instead we ended up with the dumbest person in the senate, Ron Johnson.

[cipherpac]

Seeing Mandela Barnes in a More Perfect Union vid just made my day. Met him in person during his Senatorial campaign and he is one damn good human being.