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$200M Suit Filed in D.C. Over Lead Contamination

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

In an article posted on this site little more than a week ago (see Did Chloramine Additives Put 42,000 Children in D.C. at Risk?), we concluded civil litigation may be in the offing concerning elevated levels of lead in D.C. water, considering this is a town famous for its’ lawyers, and the matter at hand involves claims of negligence affecting the health of young children.

Fast forward nine days later and the father of twin eight-year old boys has filed the first $200M class action lawsuit. The suit alleges D.C.’s Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) failed to responsibly act on tests that showed extreme levels of lead in local drinking water between 2001 and 2004. The boys are currently undergoing treatment to the tune of $40,000/year for behavioral and learning disorders caused by lead poisoning, according to the suit.

Worse, the suit claims WASA officials misled citizens and failed to properly warn them about the affects and dangers of the lead contamination. In 2007, WASA went as far as hiring a George Washington University professor to substantiate their claims. The National Institute of Health (NIH) has recently called those claims into question, citing the professor’s conclusion that no harm was done to be “dubious” at best. The NIH also concluded the professors contractual relationship with WASA likely influenced his findings.

The single father of the two adopted boys learned of the independent study co-authored by Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech engineer, linking contaminated D.C. water to elevated lead levels in children’s blood, potentially resulting in learning, growth and IQ deficiencies. Based on the boys’ troubles, the father put “two and two” together and contacted a law firm specializing in class action suits.

The suit is in its’ infancy as the father’s attorneys are seeking other children who may have been harmed. Stay tuned.

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Posted in: Mainstream

*The wetted surface of our Lead Free products contacted by consumable water contain less than one quarter of one percent (0.25%) of lead by weight.