Opt In, Left Out: Environmental Justice Impacts of Voluntary Lead Testing in Chicago

With approximately 400,000 lead service lines, Chicago has the most municipal lead water infrastructure in the United States. The city, which once mandated installation of lead pipes, is now confronting the problem with voluntary water testing and service line replacement programs. Requiring citizens to take an active role in requesting and performing government services is controversial: it engages citizens in political participation and provides information to city officials, but also exacerbates inequalities because residents with fewer resources tend to be excluded. In this paper, I use Chicago's 311 testing request database alongside census data to investigate whether barriers limit program utilization. I find that both objective risk and socioeconomic factors determine free lead testing engagement, but citizens adapt to real and perceived barriers with significant success. I recommend that Chicago implements a free, integrated, and mandatory testing and replacement system to eliminate all lead service lines by the federal 2047 deadline.