Hi, it's Curious City editor Alexandra Solomon.

I don't know about all of you, but personally, I'd like to be able to drink the water from my kitchen sink or from the fountain in the park

and not be worried about whether it might have long-term effects on my health, because lead can cause heart damage and brain damage.

And experts say there's really no safe amount

that we can consume. You might have heard us talk about Chicago's lead water problem in previous

episodes because Curious City reporter Monica Ang has been following in that story. She's looked

back at how Chicago got to have one of the worst problems with toxic lead

in our water system. And that story dated back to the beginning of the 20th century. Most municipalities

stop using lead service lines in the 1940s or 50s, but Chicago was an anomaly in that they kept installing 100% lead service lines up through

the lead ban in 1986. And then there was Chicago politics, the cozy relationship between the

Plummers Union and City Hall. The plumbers, they learned their lessons well over the years in the political structure of Chicago,

and they probably were the most powerful union in Chicago, despite the fact they may have been one of

the smallest.

They were also part of the reason the city kept installing lead service lines for so long,

and Monica's been keeping track of what the city and the state have been doing about the lead pipes problem. And today we're going to talk

with her about some new developments, legislation that will change the way the city and state will

deal with lead service lines, where the money will come from, and what the heck is happening with the drinking fountains in Chicago?

That's coming up.

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