Fighting Lead in Water One Pb at a Time
| Kaylee Rosendahl (Project Lead) | Applied Mathematics, Computer Science 2024 |
|---|---|
| Kristin Fesmire | Applied Mathematics 2023 |
| Aakash Madabushi | Artificial Intelligence 2023 |
| Jacob Thomas | Applied Mathematics, Physics 2025 |
Since the Flint, MI water crisis, awareness of lead levels in water and other daily-use substances is dramatically increasing. As it relates to Chicago, only a few policies and studies have been done of the thousands of data points on lead levels collected within the city. With the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead & Copper Rule (LCR), testing was thoroughly underway, but questions regarding the inferences from the collected data arose, and the LCR Revision (LCRR) was released to take effect in late 2024.
In September of 2022, a Guardian article released revealing the lead levels of Chicago water, providing introductory graphics to educate the public on a seeming crisis happening in one of America’s leading metropolitan cities. Since this, we have investigated lead testing results publicly released by the Chicago Department of Water Management, studying how the LCRR will relate to the LCR, affect the city of Chicago, and give insight into the true lead levels of Chicago water.