A Capitol Hill father of twin boys filed a $200 million class-action lawsuit Tuesday against the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, alleging the utility engaged in a “massive cover-up” to conceal spiking lead levels in water and the associated health risks.
John Parkhurst claims in the suit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, that his now 8-year-old twin boys, Jonathan and Joshua, suffered learning and behavioral problems as a result of high lead concentrations in the tap water they drank between 2000 and 2003. The boys tested positive for lead as toddlers, according to the complaint, but continued to drink the water because WASA had not warned the family of any threat.
The suit claims that WASA, a quasi-independent agency, “undertook Herculean efforts to shield itself from liability and to otherwise deny responsibility.” Thousands of children, it contends, “now suffer from such defects as brain damage, decreased growth, speech and balance problems, below-average learning skills, reduced IQ levels, the inability to focus, and hyperactivity.”
The complaint seeks $200 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages. It also calls for a system to monitor the medical conditions of all children affected by water-based lead poisoning.
WASA depends on ratepayers for its roughly $340 million operating budget, with some help from local and federal taxpayers for its capital program. It is unclear what a massive verdict against the agency would mean for water and sewer rates.
“We believe there are literally thousands of children out there that have been poisoned by WASA,” said Kate Kimpel, a lawyer with Sanford Wittels & Heisler LLP, which filed the suit. “WASA has never taken any responsibility.”
WASA said it had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit, but issued a response nevertheless: “We are sympathetic to all parents of children with developmental and behavioral issues. However, there are any number of factors that may contribute to health and behavioral concerns. Linking any particular set of issues to lead in water will require scientific and case-specific substantiation.”
In an interview with The Examiner, Parkhurst said he approached the law firm a few weeks ago after learning that his sons’ classmates had also tested positive for lead and suffered from similar ailments. Around the same time, new research was released that concluded the number of D.C. children with dangerously high lead levels more than doubled after 2001 — contradicting an earlier report touted by WASA.
“It was the first time that all of the dots were connected,” Parkhurst said.
The $200 million “is actually quite conservative when you look at the scope of the problem in the District,” Kimpel said. If 5,000 families were affected, each would receive $40,000.
“Nobody is going to get rich from this lawsuit,” she said.
