Lead Pipes Are Everywhere in Chicago. Here’s How to Protect Yourself
How to test your water, get free filters and find other help. By Sophia Kalakailo, City Bureau This story is a partnership between Inside Climate News, Grist, WBEZ and City Bureau.
Environment & Sustainability
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How we mapped Chicago’s lead pipe problem and what we learned
Chicago has a lead pipe problem. The city estimates that about 412,000 out of roughly 491,000 water service lines require replacement because they are known or suspected to contain lead. That’s the most of any city in the country. Service…
Chicago has the most lead pipes in the nation. We mapped them all.
As Gina Ramirez buckled her 11-year-old son into her car last month for their daily drive to school, she handed him a plastic water bottle. “I would love to be able to have him put a cup under the tap…
Lead pipes are everywhere in Chicago. Here’s how to protect yourself.
Chicago residents risk daily lead exposure from toxic lead service lines, the underground pipes that connect buildings to the city’s water supply. The city has the most lead service lines in the country — around 412,000 — and officials don’t…
Climate change intensified wildfire weather in Greece, Türkiye and Cyprus: Study
Hundreds of wildfires across Europe have burned at least 1 million hectares, or around 2.5 million acres, since the start of the year. That’s made 2025 the worst year for the continent since official wildfire records began in 2006. In…
Giraffe is now officially four species
The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, now officially recognizes four distinct giraffe species, it announced on Aug. 21. Until recently, giraffes across Africa were classified as a single species with eight to 11 subspecies. However, since 2016, when the…
In Nepal, artificial ponds offer drought relief despite lingering doubts
KATHMANDU — Until the summer of 2024, residents of Rajabahs village in Nepal’s southeastern Madhesh province reeled under a water shortage for more than eight years as wells and springs dried up amid extreme summer heat. “We didn’t even have…
Steven Cook, a Former Chemical Industry Lawyer, Now at E.P.A., Wants to Change PFAS Rules
A Trump appointee has proposed rewriting a measure that requires companies to clean up “forever chemicals,” documents show. The new version would shift costs from polluters.
Post-it notes and tiny trackers: behind the race to stop Asian hornets thriving in the UK
The invaders present a devastating threat to Britain’s pollinators – constant watchfulness and clever technology are needed to thwart their progress Were it not for the bags of destroyed hornets nests in the corner, you could be forgiven for confusing…
How a Koch-funded campaign is trying to reverse climate action in Vermont
This story is a partnership between VTDigger and Grist. For about two decades, Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political network, has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into stalling climate action nationwide. Founded by Charles and David Koch, the libertarian…