This story is a partnership between Grist , Inside Climate News , and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region.

As Gina Ramirez buckled her 11-year-old son into her car last month for their daily drive to school, she handed him a plastic water bottle.

“I would love to be able to have him put a cup under the tap if he was thirsty,” Ramirez said.

She can’t.

Ramirez lives in a home on Chicago’s Southeast Side that’s serviced by a lead water pipe, a toxic relic found in most old homes in the city and many across the country. Exposure to lead can cause serious health harms, including neurological, kidney, and reproductive issues. Infants and young children are particularly susceptible.

A longtime activist, Ramirez knows that she and many of

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