ENGINEER SPOTLIGHT: Mark Edwards - The Water Guy
FIRST, MARC EDWARDS DISCOVERED
HIGH LEVELS OF LEAD IN WASHINGTON, D.C.'S, DRINKING
WATER, THEN HE HAD TO PERSUADE THE BUREAUCRACY TO GET
THE WORD OUT.
It was a problem that had baffled civil engineer Marc
Edwards for a decade. By the time the Virginia Tech
professor finally figured out the answer, he had stumbled
across a health issue that ended up pitting him against
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the utility
that supplies Washington, D.C., with its drinking water.
The resulting battle and stress affected his health,
but Edwards persevered and was finally vindicated, assisted
by three graduate students he credits with helping him
through the ordeal.
Edwards is one of the world's leading experts in water
corrosion in home plumbing. In the mid-90s he started
getting calls from homeowners across America who had
problems with pinhole leaks in their home plumbing systems.
Edwards points out that plumbing may sound like a trivial
asset in the grand scheme of things, but the value of
pipes in all the buildings in America adds up to more
than a trillion dollars.
One pinhole leak in a home isn't so bad, Edwards says,
but once you have two, plumbers and insurers usually
recommend replacing the plumbing, figuring that other
leaks are bound to happen. That's typically a $2,000
to $6,000 investment. If those leaks cause mold problems
inside the walls, the home's resale value could plummet.
The problem was, Edwards discovered, that no one wanted
to take responsibility for the problem. "Homeowners
were basically left to fend for themselves," he says.
"The historical mentality of the water industry is that
its problem ends at the street. Anything that happens
beyond that, it'll help—but only to a certain
extent, arguing that water may not be the cause. Some
of the homeowners I dealt with literally lost their
homes."
Edwards finally identified the culprit that had caused
the lead leaching: chloramine. Made from chlorine and
ammonia, the chemical had replaced chlorine as the disinfectant
for drinking water in Washington, D.C., starting in
March 2000. "I had read papers on the effect of chloramines
on lead, and found that 50 years ago people noted some
serious corrosion issues for brass, an alloy of copper,
lead, and zinc," Edwards says. He adds that chloramine
leachs lead not only out of lead pipes but even from
so-called lead-free brass (which actually contains 8
percent lead) and lead-containing solder used to join
copper tubes before it was banned in 1986.
The EPA and WASA were reluctant to accept this hypothesis
until the water utility switched back to using chlorine
for a regular cleanup of its pipes in April. The lead
levels immediately dropped. When it switched back to
using chloramine in May, the levels rose dramatically.
Finally, in June 2004, the EPA ruled that WASA had violated
federal law by not properly notifying the public about
unsafe levels of lead in the water. "The wheels of justice
turn slowly," Edwards says, "but they do turn."
The whole experience has taught Edwards not only about
the frustration of fighting bureaucracy but also something
about the quality of today's engineering students. "You
hear about the fact that North American students are
so far behind their peers in some other countries, they
don't have the same work ethic and they don't know this
and they don't know that, but I will tell you that it
almost brings tears to my eyes to think about the hours
they invested and their commitment. It was really remarkable.
You can't tell me that students of any era would have
performed any better."
"At times," he adds, "I wanted to give up because I
didn't have money and I was paying them piecemeal out
of my own pocket, but they were so enthusiastic about
working on something that would help consumers—something
that was also new scientifically—I didn't have
the heart to tell them we had to stop."
Edwards grew up near Buffalo, where he completed an
undergraduate degree in biophysics at SUNY Buffalo.
He then went to graduate school—in engineering.
"I visited all kinds of programs and I had the best
feel for the people in environmental engineering. I
thought that this is an area where you can solve real
problems that impact people's everyday lives." He completed
a Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Since then, he has worked as a consultant on corrosion
problems with water authorities around the world, from
Chile to Australia, from Korea to Germany. He joined
Virginia Tech's department of civil and environmental
engineering in 1997. Today, the 40-year-old teaches
courses in water treatment. "The students are the best
part of the job," he says. "It's great to work with
young people who feel a deep sense of commitment, who
are willing to sacrifice their time and effort to advance
scientific understanding on behalf of the public." Edwards
also serves as president of the Association of Environmental
Engineering and Science Professors, which he says was
very supportive during his battle with WASA and the
EPA.
Edwards, his wife, and two pre-school children live
in Blacksburg, Va., where he indulges his passion of
growing exotic fruit and nut trees like pawpaws, kiwis,
and persimmon. "Why I do it, I don't really know," he
says with a chuckle. He finds the hobby fascinating
even though he admits that it takes many years to see
results. "Actually, it's a lot like research. You have
to invest the years before you see the fruits of your
labor. Some of the trees I planted take 10 years before
there is even a hope of seeing results. He pauses for
a couple of seconds. "Oddly, it took about the same
time before we made any significant progress in understanding
the problem of pinhole leaks in home plumbing."
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