Philadelphia Residents File Lawsuit Over 'Negligent' Lead Testing

Earlier this month, Philadelphia residents filed a lawsuit against the city.

The lawsuit claims that city officials knowingly conducted construction projects that exponentially increased the risk of toxic levels of lead in residents’ tap water and that the city failed to warn residents of the risks and actively concealed the problem through “negligent, reckless, and deceptive conduct.”

The lawsuit, filed on June 2 in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, states that the city’s aging lead water pipes are “disturbed by construction that disrupt the service lines and increases the risk of lead contamination into nearby residents’ water supply.” The lawsuit points out multiple studies that have shown the risks to partially replacing lead service lines, stating that the city has ignored “blatant red flags.”

“Studies have shown that the kind of construction the city is carrying out creates the perfect storm for lead pipe corrosion, and yet the city has decided to conceal this growing health hazard from its own citizens,” Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman said in a press release. “To add insult to injury, the city of Philadelphia has actively concealed this issue by rigging its lead testing procedures.”

The lawsuit states that the city rigs its lead testing in two ways. First, by testing an inordinate amount of low risk homes, “diluting its testing pool and skewing the results… to paint a woefully inaccurate picture.” Second, the lawsuit states that the city of Philadelphia tests its water for lead in a manner specifically advised against by the U.S. EPA and water experts around the country due to the likelihood of increasing false negative results. The city continues to ignore these warnings, the lawsuit says.

The suit seeks to provide diagnostic testing necessary to detect lead poisoning to affected Philadelphia residents and their children, as well as full replacement of affected service lines, given that the City has interfered with residents’ private property and caused damage that cannot be reversed, according to the suit.

Berman said, “The city has known and acknowledged that, for years, construction projects and water main repairs have caused elevated and unsafe levels of lead to contaminate the water traveling through its residents’ homes, and it’s time to come clean.”

According to Philly.com, three city councilwomen in Philadelphia introduced a set of bills to try to protect Philadelphia children from lead exposure, following the water crisis in Flint, MI, and a lawsuit over how the city handles lead testing.

The bills would require city public schools and daycare centers to test water for lead contamination and landlords to tell renters about any lead pipes that connect buildings to water mains.

Councilwoman Helen Gym introduced a bill to require each public school to perform annual testing of water and obtain city certification that the water meets quality standards, reported Philly.com.

"We need to be vigilant, and we need to make sure that we're up to date with the latest science, and we need to commit to an expanded and robust testing program within our city," Gym said. "We're taking a 50-year-old problem like lead poisoning and we're trying to re-energize it, and get some attention to our city infrastructure and invest in our city infrastructure."

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