The number of infants and toddlers with dangerously high levels of lead in their blood more than doubled after harmful amounts of lead entered the D.C. water supply between 2001 and 2004, according to a study cited in The Washington Post.
The study was based on blood tests from thousands of children before and during the time when the lead was in the water supply. Many of the children, particularly those in neighborhoods such as Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights, were found to have concentrations high enough to cause developmental delays and irreversible decreases in IQ averaging between three and seven points.
Lead levels were measured at some points during the crisis to be hundreds of times the federal level of concern, which is fifteen parts per billion. The average lead level in D.C. water today is about eight parts per billion, the Post reported.
-CLINT RICE
