Photo by mofo.

The presence of lead in the District’s water pipes has been an issue in the city for years. But a report written by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reaffirms that lead in Washington’s water remains a very real and wide-spread problem. As reported in the Washington Post, the new CDC report states that 15,000 homes in the District who get their water from pipes which were partially removed in 2006 might be drinking water with “dangerous” levels of lead.

In 2004, the CDC claimed that the amount of lead in D.C.’s drinking water was not a significant risk to children. The agency has since admitted that conclusion was made using incomplete data.

George Hawkins, the director of D.C. Water, told WAMU this morning that the issues were “not news to us,” and said that the agency has been “taking the protective measures” necessary to clean up the lead contamination “for some time.”

According to various reports, residents in the areas where partial pipe replacements have been conducted are being asked to use bottled water until the supply can be reevaluated. But Hawkins said that residents shouldn’t worry too much, unless they have been notified in the past by the agency that they have been subjected to a pipe replacement. Not sure if your residence gets its water from pipes which were replaced? D.C. Water is telling people who aren’t sure to call 202-354-3600 for information — especially if there are children, pregnant women or people with compromised immune systems living in the home.