Aniket Pujari(Bloomberg) — After the Federal Aviation Administration’s antiquated air-traffic control systems attracted widespread attention in recent weeks, the agency is now confronted with another aging infrastructure problem that’s closer to home: lead in the water at its Washington headquarters.
The labor union that represents employees working at the FAA’s main base has been raising the alarm in recent days over the water quality at the two main federal buildings in Washington. According to the union, the agency has said it’s providing bottled water for drinking and hand-washing because water in one of the buildings “was found to be outside required thresholds.”
But it wasn’t until the union obtained a testing summary from the agency that it found out the water in Federal Office Building 10B, also known as the Wilbur Wright Federal Building, “is contaminated with lead,” AFSCME Local 1653 President Dan Ronneberg said in an email to 2,000 of its bargaining members this week. The hot water in the Child Care Center in building 10A, called the Orville Wright Federal Building, also contains lead, according to the email seen by Bloomberg News.
The discovery comes as thousands of federal employees are being summoned back to the office full time under mandates from President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk. But some workers have returned only to find their offices aren’t fit for purpose — some buildings are without Wi-Fi and electricity, while other facilities don’t have enough space to accommodate permanent work stations for everyone.
The Office of Inspector General for the US General Services Administration raised concerns in 2024 about the water quality at federal office buildings. The watchdog found that policies and requirements set by GSA’s Public Buildings Service to ensure water is safe to drink were flawed, not always followed and not properly overseen.
The FAA said in a statement that it will respond directly to the union about the matter and referred further questions to GSA.
A GSA spokesman said in a statement that the water is “safe for hand washing” and that it “proactively placed water coolers on every floor in both buildings as an additional option for employees.”
Lead can be harmful to human health even at low levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no safe blood lead level identified for younger children, the health agency says.
Older buildings that have aging plumbing systems that might contain lead pipes are more susceptible to water contamination. The FAA buildings in DC — named after the pioneering aviation Wright brothers — were constructed in the 1960s, though the US government didn’t ban the use of lead pipes until the 1980s.
The FAA union told its members it still hasn’t received all of the water testing results it’s requested from the FAA, despite asking for them “multiple times.”
The union filed a grievance over the water issue on March 5, demanding full testing results and “proper notification” to employees that includes specific information on the type of the water contamination and the agency’s plan for fixing the problem.
–With assistance from Gregory Korte.
(Updates with comments from FAA, GSA beginning in sixth paragraph.)
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