I’ve got lead in my Minneapolis home’s drinking water. Now what do I do?

Like so many other Minneapolis residents, I learned my house has lead pipes when I received a letter last month informing me I was the (not-so-proud) owner of one of the roughly 37,000 lead service lines still in operation throughout the city. Not liking the way that sounds, I did what the city recommends: I ordered a lead test kit for my tap water. Minneapolis offers them for free to every resident, regardless of whether your house or apartment has a lead line. And lo and behold, my water has lead: 1.3 parts per billion, to be exact. While the Environmental Protection Agency’s “action level” — the amount of contaminant in water that triggers treatment requirements for public water systems — is 15 parts per billion, my water’s test results came back with the scary warning that “there is no level of lead without risk.” Long-term lead exposure can cause brain damage, cardiovascular issues, adverse pregnancy outcomes, decreased kidney function, anemia, learning problems and mor