One reason seems to be that most people had no idea that this was even an issue. So kind of a "wait, what?" moment for a lot of folks.
From the original WSJ article:
>“A new, uncontrolled source of lead like old telephone cables may partly explain” why children continue to have lead in their blood, said Jack Caravanos, an environmental public-health professor at New York University, who assisted the Journal in its research. “We never knew about it so we never acted on it, unlike lead in paint and pipes.”
Well Lake Tahoe supplies the drinking water to much of Northern Nevada and Northern California. If the lead is improperly shielded or shielding has eroded then it's a pretty straightforward journey from there.
Lake Tahoe holds a truly massive amount of water. 37 trillion gallons of water. Mercury and arsenic contamination from all the abandon mines is a much bigger issue, and that isn't even a real risk to drinking water. (I get my water from the Truckee river)
From the original WSJ article:
>“A new, uncontrolled source of lead like old telephone cables may partly explain” why children continue to have lead in their blood, said Jack Caravanos, an environmental public-health professor at New York University, who assisted the Journal in its research. “We never knew about it so we never acted on it, unlike lead in paint and pipes.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lead-cables-telecoms-att-toxic-...