A recent investigation turned up findings that a high number of children in Galesburg are suffering from lead poisoning.
A report by the Associated Press points to contaminated tap water.
Peter Schwartzman serves on the Galesburg City Council. He says the results of tests done by the EPA and state health officials are available in water bills. Speaking on WILL’s “The 21st”Friday, he said more needs to be done.
“The health department – they were the ones who issued the report in October 2015 that have the blood lead levels," Schwartzman said. "I would argue that that information should have been communicated to all elected representatives in the state of Illinois. And we were not.”
Schwartzman, who’s also a professor of Environmental Sciences at Knox College, says the elevated lead levels likely are the result of lead paint and dust around old homes.
The research has the attention of 17th District Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, who visited with city council members in Galesburg Friday. Bustos says her office is working with the federal, state and local officials to reduce what she called "alarming" lead levels.
An Associated Press review of U.S. EPA data shows that 31 water systems in Illinois have exceeded the federal lead standard at least once since Jan. 1, 2013.
Galesburg is the largest of eight Illinois municipal systems in that group, along with five schools or child care centers and 18 private systems whose owners include a Rockford television station and a Chicago medical center.
