Leer en español: ‘Es criminal’: los habitantes de Milwaukee piden una remoción más rápida de los conductos de plomo para reducir el envenenamiento infantil Sitting in his North Side Milwaukee rental house, Nazir Al-Mujaahid discussed his son Shu’aib’s challenges while the quiet 9-year-old lingered in another room. Shu’aib excels at sports, Al-Mujaahid said, but his speaking skills developed late, and he lags behind his 6-year-old brother in reading. Al-Mujaahid, 45, believes that lead poisoning is hindering Shu’aib’s development. Confirming where the lead came from is impossible, but Al-Mujaahid suspects the lead pipelines that carried water into his home. The city for years failed to warn the family of lead hazards in their home — or that Shu’aib registered elevated lead levels as a toddler in 2014, Al-Mujaahid said. Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! “My awareness of it hasn’t been an issue taken seriously at all.” Al-Mujaahid said. “I found out about it because my son wasn’t developing normally.” Shu’aib is among 9,600 Wisconsin children younger than 16 found to be poisoned by lead between 2018 and 2020, according to Wisconsin Department of Health Services data. The neurotoxin damages the brain and nervous system, particularly in young children. Nearly two-thirds of Wisconsin’s lead-poisoned kids live in Milwaukee County, where 5.6% of children tested in 2020 had blood lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter, which the state defines as poisoning. That’s compared to 3.4% of children statewide. Gov. Tony Evers and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett have called for aggressive lead pipeline replacements, but their health departments primarily focus on lead paint and dust, calling that the predominant hazard, as do many experts. Since 2016, when the Flint, Michigan water crisis was declared a disaster, Wisconsin has replaced about 20% of known service lines made of lead and galvanized steel that may contain lead flaking — or other materials that might contain lead, a Wisconsin Watch analysis of state Public Service Commission data shows. Despite that, Wisconsin does not require local governments to test drinking water during lead investigations, even though it can make up 20% of a person’s total exposure to lead, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — or up to 60% for infants consuming mostly mixed formula. ‘Public health crisis’ Childhood lead poisoning rates in Milwaukee and statewide have steadily decreased in recent decades since lead was phased out in paint and gasoline. Yet Milwaukee in 2020 still had a higher percentage of lead-poisoned children than Flint did in 2015. Al-Mujaahid is among residents urging Milwaukee to bolster lead poisoning prevention efforts — including by accelerating pipeline replacements. Wisconsin communities have replaced more than 115,000 utility-owned and privately-owned service line portions since 2016, a Wisconsin Watch analysis shows. An estimated 465,000 pipeline portions made of lead or other potentially hazardous materials remained in 2020. Madison and Green Bay are among cities that have replaced all of their lead pipelines. But Milwaukee is much larger and installed exponentially more than others, even mandating their installation until 1948. Milwaukee has replaced less than 1,000 of its full lead service lines annually since launching its effort in 2017. Replacing the remaining 70,000 lead pipes at that pace would take more than 70 years, and the full price tag would cost hundreds of millions of dollars that city officials say they lack. Federal funding may provide the most hope, including President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, a version of which the U.S. Senate approved this month. But some residents are tired of waiting. “It’s a public health crisis,” said Derek Beyer, a steering committee member of Get The Lead Out, a Milwaukee coalition fighting for speedier replacements. “It’s not an option to wait 30 more years or whatever, to beg for some money that might not ever come.” Family not notified The Al-Mujaahid family has rented their home since 2014. The home has lead service lines, city records show. In 2017, a fingerstick test detected 11.4 micrograms per deciliter in Shu’aib’s blood, which prompted the Milwaukee Health Department to warn the family in a letter that Shu’aib was lead poisoned. It wasn’t the first time that Shu’aib tested positive for lead poisoning. A 2014 test had flagged 6.4 micrograms per deciliter in Shu’aib’s blood. No immediate follow up tests were scheduled, and Al-Mujaahid said he wasn’t notified.