That’s one of the more bizarre things in the US to me. Lead pipes have been outlawed in Bavaria in the 1800s. It’s not something anyone ever thinks about, so imagine my surprise when I moved to a major US city and was told that I should test my water.
“The authors of the study stated that it could be assumed that other municipalities in Germany – with the exception of Frankfurt am Main and the southern German states – might also be confronted with increased levels of lead in drinking water.”
It’s not surprising to me that the former GDR states that the article mentions as hotspots in the following paragraph are in a different position, they have to catch up in a lot of areas.
(And that’s not going into what’s considered “exceeded” levels in the EU.)
I stayed in Budapest Hungary last year and a bunch of the buildings had warnings they were testing the water for lead contamination. So this is apparently an issue in Europe as well.
I tried several times to find an appropriate answer to your comment, but it's hard. If you do not realize that "Europe" is made up of many vastly different countries, and that Bavaria is not a part of Hungary, then I just don't know what to say.
"That’s one of the more bizarre things in the US to me."
I am pointing out that you shouldn't consider it a bizarre thing in the US, because it a is a problem in Europe as well.
Trying to insult me by explaining that Europe is made up of different countries is obviously not helpful. Hungary and Bavaria are both part of Europe. That is my point. I'm sorry you didn't understand this.
I don't understand why the problem existing elsewhere in Europe (which I did not mention) is relevant. Europe is made up of countries vastly differing in almost every regard, including for example the Balkans. I would have been far less surprised if I had moved to Hungary instead of a major US city. Is it somehow more appropriate to compare the US to Hungary instead of Germany? If so, then that is very surprising to me, too.
Uh wrong-- we aspire to be like Hungary-- that is to say with enough hard work and deportations maybe one day we can reach comparable levels of civilization as our Magyar overlords but it is far from certain.
Infrastructure in much of the US is extremely old and crumbling, often barely holding on.
In the name of profit many important upgrades and replacements are simply not done until things fail - like 46,154 bridges that are in use today that are structurally deficient. [1]
