Harris Fires Back at Providence Water Supply on Lead Info

GoLocalProv News Team

Harris Fires Back at Providence Water Supply on Lead Info

Johanna Harris
Former Chair of the Providence Board of Licenses Johanna Harris -- who writes the blog "Providence Rules" - has fired back at Providence Water's response to her recent post. 

Harris had written "Lead in Our Tap Water: Providence RI versus Flint MI" to which Providence Water called Harris' findings "not representative of [our] data."

On Tuesday, Harris wrote the following response:

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Providence Water has tapped Dyana Koelsch of DK Communications to respond to my July 3 blog post Lead in Our Tap Water: Providence RI versus Flint MI. In an interview published on July 11 in GoLocalProv, Koelsch noted, “The conclusions she has drawn are not representative of the data, Providence Water’s findings or its ongoing activities regarding lead.”

Koelsch’s defense offers no new analysis of her client’s own database of tap-water lead measurements to show where I supposedly went wrong. Nothing in her defense rebuts my conclusion that certain sections of the city, especially the area around Ward 2 on the East Side, have levels of lead in first-draw samples of tap water comparable to those published for Flint, Michigan. 

Nothing in her response contradicts my conclusion that the official statistics reported by Providence Water in its annual water quality reports obscure the seriousness of the local problem by combining Providence with neighboring Cranston, Johnston and North Providence. 

Nothing in her response rebuts my conclusion that, while there is evidence of an improvement during the past 2–3 years, Providence still appears to be far from solving a serious public health problem.

Read Harris' full response HERE. 

Lead Poisoning for Children — Hot Spots in RI

Charlestown

 

ZIP: 02813

 

Number of Children Tested: 1,437

 

Percent Elevated: 10.02%

Providence

 

ZIP: 02904

 

Number of Children Tested: 8,975

 

Percent Elevated: 10.07%

Cranston/Providence

 

ZIP: 02910

 

Number of Children Tested: 6,343

 

Percent Elevated: 10.37%

Hopkinton

 

ZIP: 02894

 

Number of Children Tested: 621

 

Percent Elevated: 10.47%

Westerly

 

ZIP: 02891

 

Number of Children Tested: 4,241

 

Percent Elevated: 10.16%

East Providence

 

ZIP: 02915

 

Number of Children Tested: 4,711

 

Percent Elevated: 11.12%

Woonsocket

 

ZIP: 02895

 

Number of Children Tested: 15,651

 

Percent Elevated: 11.34%

Little Compton

 

ZIP: 02837

 

Number of Children Tested: 819

 

Percent Elevated: 11.72%

Burrillville

 

ZIP: 02859

 

Number of Children Tested: 1600

 

Percent Elevated: 12%

Providence

 

ZIP: 02909

 

Number of Children Tested: 24,764

 

Percent Elevated: 12%

Richmond

 

ZIP: 02832

 

Number of Children Tested: 1,012

 

Percent Elevated: 12.35%

East Providence

 

ZIP: 02914

 

Number of Children Tested: 8,045

 

Percent Elevated: 12.77%

Warren

 

ZIP: 02885

 

Number of Children Tested: 3,458

 

Percent Elevated: 12.78%

Providence East Side

 

ZIP: 02906

 

Number of Children Tested: 6,484

 

Percent Elevated: 13.66%

Pawtucket

 

ZIP: 02860

 

Number of Children Tested: 21,099

 

Percent Elevated: 14.19%

Newport

 

ZIP: 02840

 

Number of Children Tested: 7,068

 

Percent Elevated: 14.77%

Central Falls

 

ZIP: 02863

 

Number of Children Tested: 10,897

 

Percent Elevated: 16.22%

Providence

 

ZIP: 02028

 

Number of Children Tested: 15,943

 

Percent Elevated: 18.14%

Providence/Cranston

 

ZIP: 02905

 

Number of Children Tested: 10,245

 

Percent Elevated: 18.53%

Providence/Cranston

 

ZIP: 02907

 

Number of Children Tested: 17,249

 

Percent Elevated: 22.63%

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