Before founding Philly Unleaded with Tony Spagnoli, Jonathan King was a patent lawyer and concerned citizen. After reading about the situation in Flint, Michigan, he contacted Virginia Tech researcher, Marc Edwards, and learned how community members could test their drinking water using scientifically-rigorous techniques. He has since co-led the non-profit organization Philly Unleaded Project to provide kits to Philadelphia residents who would like to test their water independently of the Philadelphia Water Department. Philly Unleaded was initially launched amid concerns that the city was not providing accurate measures of lead levels in the water, which - independent of Philly Unleaded - has brought on a class-action lawsuit against the Water Department. Too Tony’s surprise, his home tested high in terms of lead levels, reaching close to three times the EPA-specified levels - this despite his belief there was no lead pipe or solder in his system, thus reinforcing the value of testing. As can be seen in the associated segment of C&C program 2, Philly Unleaded reached out to a diverse cross-section of city residents in order to generate as much community engagement as possible. Testing efforts in Philadelphia are now focusing on schools as well as homes, in work led by PennEnvironment and David Masur.

www.phillyunleaded.org