Patricia Gorrell grew up in Chicago and has lived there her entire life. She says she loves the taste of Chicago water, or at least she did until recently. Now, the best way she can describe it is “boring.”

This is because Gorrell received a postcard in January from the City of Chicago allowing her to go online and claim a new water filtration system. While the city’s Department of Water Management (DWM) says any resident can request a free water sample kit for lead testing, only residents who have water meters are eligible for the free filter because these homes may have higher lead levels.

Receiving the ZeroWater filter, however, has altered Gorrell’s daily life in many ways. It has a time-consuming five-stage filtration system and only holds 10 cups.

“It probably takes 30 minutes,” Gorrell said. To get 10 cups, “it takes four times to fill up this reservoir that then has to go through this filtration. It’s a slow process.”

Filling up the pitcher, which she does once or twice a day, also wastes a significant quantity of water due to flushing, the process of running contaminants out of pipes that haven’t been used recently. The City of Chicago recommends flushing pipes for five minutes if they haven’t been used for six hours. This can also be achieved by showering or washing dishes.

Gorrell is now taking extra measures such as leaving a cup of filtered water in the bathroom if she wants a drink at night and buying a bag of ice when she has guests over instead of freezing unfiltered tap water in her fridge.

“That, to me, is just a temporary fix,” says Kimberly Gray, Chair of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, regarding the filter and daily modifications.

While data from the Department of Water Management for homes tested in Chicago does reveal that longer flushing reduces lead content, Gray raises valid questions. “Are you gonna always run the water for so many minutes?” she asks. “Should we expect all of this modified behavior on the part of people?”

A spokesperson from DWM initially agreed to an interview but did not respond to follow up requests to comment on the implications of the data or what plans Chicago has going forward.

“The water that they’re sending out is the safest water in the world,” says Larry Burmeister, a local plumber. “Once it gets into the distribution pipes and through faucets and things like that, that’s where your contamination is coming from.”

Most of Chicago’s distribution pipes from the water main to houses are lead, he says. DWM adds a blended phosphate to the water to form a protective coating on the pipes and prevent contaminant leaching. But when they do corrode, there can be severe health consequences, he says.

“We know that lead is a very serious neurotoxin,” says Gray. “It is particularly injurious to children and to fetal health… There is nothing safe about lead exposure… It’s just that the damage is irreversible when it’s in children or fetuses, particularly children less than the age of 2. And the reason for that is that their neurological system is still developing, and lead interferes with the development of the nervous system.”

Particularly at risk, according to DWM, are single family and two-flat homes built before 1986. These are more likely to have lead service lines to the street and lead pipes in the household plumbing. DWM estimates the number of homes in Chicago with lead service lines to be around 375,000.

“I think we thought that there were certain acceptable risks,” Gray says. She notes that lead pipes were cheap, easy to work with, and could be coated either naturally or chemically.

Chicago laid down around 75 miles of water mains every year from 1890 to 1920, according to The New York Times. These pipes were only expected to serve for up to a century, so the city began a 10-year project in 2011 to rebuild 900 of the city’s 4,300 miles of water mains. It costs around $2 million per mile, but this project doesn’t account for new copper service pipes from the mains to houses, which are the homeowner’s responsibility.

Gorrell didn’t send in her water sample to have it tested for lead because she was worried she’d have to replace the pipes in her 93-year-old two-flat at her own expense.

“They were saying they come in with a group – an electrician, a plumber – and tell you what to fix, so now it’s fallen on me.”

In the meantime, she’s been using a total dissolved solids (TDS) meter that came on her ZeroWater filter. The instruction sheet uses “TDS Meter” and “Water Quality Meter” interchangeably and warns users to “Test your water regularly.” And she did.

The TDS meter should initially read 000 parts per million (ppm) on the filtered water pitcher. The filter should be replaced once it reaches 006 ppm. When Gorrell tried out the TDS meter on unfiltered water at her house and found concentrations of 155-174 ppm throughout, she was concerned. She had also brought the meter to her former workplace, the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northwestern University, and tested 133 ppm there. When I asked her to test water from a dorm on campus, we found 160-168 ppm. When she tested water at the brand new Northtown Branch of the Chicago Public Library, she found 155-159 ppm.

Considering that the EPA action level for lead in drinking water is 15 parts per billion and the TDS meter was providing numbers on the order of parts per million, these levels suggested concentrations that were through the roof.

But there’s one problem. The instructions don’t explain what “total dissolved solids” actually means.

“‘Total dissolved solids’ is just salts- inorganic salts, calcium, carbonate, chlorides, any inorganic constituents,” Gray says, “and lead, but the lead will probably be a really small amount.” (The lack of these components in Gorrell’s water is likely where the “boring” taste is coming from.)

Hydroviv, a water filter company, confirms that TDS is a poor measure of water quality. Not only does it not accurately report lead concentrations because toxic levels of lead are measured in ppb rather than ppm, but it doesn’t measure things that are “uncharged,” including motor oil, gasoline, pesticides, and many pharmaceuticals.

“The total dissolved solids content is not equivalent to lead content, not at all,” Gray adds.

Then, if the expense of replacing the pipes is what prevents some homeowners from getting their water tested, the question becomes who should pay.

When Gray found out her new house had a lead service line, she paid to replace it because she had children and could afford to. But not everyone can. She describes lead as “an equal opportunity hazard” but says having the knowledge and “political clout” to demand attention are important factors.

One solution is for the city to reimburse residents for half of their costs – following the plan Madison, Wisconsin, set when replacing lead service lines to homes.

Burmeister, the plumber, agrees that every service line in the city needs to be replaced but doesn’t think Chicago can afford it. However, this isn’t a problem that will fix itself. He is receiving more calls about lead as people become more aware and concerned. These concerns come from the North Side of Chicago and the North Shore suburbs, including Evanston, which also has older infrastructure.

One of those calls to Evanston came from Deanna Langle, a pastor at the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northwestern where Gorrell found 133 ppm with her TDS meter. Though this didn’t provide an accurate lead concentration, it also doesn’t rule anything out.

“I would think that if this is a lead issue throughout the city,” Langle says, “for the overall quality of the city, I hope the city would step forth in some way.”

Evanston does have numerous initiatives to help homeowners navigate potential lead contamination, according to Water Production Bureau Chief Darrell King. The city ensures the cleanliness of the drinking water leaving the treatment plant before it enters residential pipes. Evanston does not provide free testing kits as Chicago does but provides a list of certified laboratories that can test water, with tests ranging in cost from $20-$100.

The city also has a lead abatement program, where the city will pay to replace its portion of the service line if the owner is replacing their portion for the same size pipe as the original. King estimates the homeowner’s average cost is $7,000, while the city’s is around $2,000, but he notes that the city is paying much more for water main replacement and other home service lines.

The city’s lead reduction initiative allows loans to property owners up to $4,800 over a 4-year period to replace pipes, provides point of use filter pitchers (like Gorrell’s) for residents affected by the Water Main Improvement Project, and offers free lead testing after the construction.

“We notify them, the property owner and the residents, and let them know,” King says. “We invite them to a community meeting, tell them all about the lead reduction initiative, we send follow-up notifications. We notify the property owners like 10 times during this process. We let them know that this is available to you, and then it’s up to them to tell us if they want to participate.”

While Evanston’s efforts are positive, there’s still no ideal scenario for many Chicago and Evanston residents. The only way to rid the risk of lead for affected homeowners is to shell out thousands to replace pipes or to modify their daily lives with the filter pitcher as Gorrell is doing.

“The city’s putting this on me but it’s not me,” Gorrell says. “Honestly, I’m tired of the city. I’ve lived here in Rogers Park—I grew up not far from here—my whole life. I’m tired of paying the taxes. I’m tired of paying all this, so, in a year or so, I plan to sell my building anyways and move out of here, so I’ve kind of given up on the city.”