I recently received this announcement from local water authorities about lead in tap water:
"Passaic Valley Water Commission found elevated levels of lead in drinking water in some homes/buildings. Lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children."
This has brought the serious problem of lead in tap water close to home! It raises the question of what actually is lead and how does it get in our water sources?
What Is Lead in Drinking Water?
Lead is a soft, gray metal that is used in a variety of ways. It was used extensively for print type setting. It was also used extensively in plumbing both for making lead pipes and for soldering before it was banned by law in 1987. Before 1960, paint used inside houses commonly contained lead until it was discovered that paint chips in water or paint dust inhaled were both very toxic. Lead is still used in making fishing weights and in making car batteries.
How Does Lead Get into Our Drinking Water?
Houses built before 1940 often used lead pipes in home plumbing. The service lines bringing water to individual homes were often made of lead. This resulted in high levels of lead in drinking water. Even up until 1987, lead solder was used to seal the joints of copper pipes and lead leaked into drinking water from this solder.
Even today, brass fixtures and faucets can contain up to 8% lead. This is still a significant source of lead in drinking water. This is particularly true when hot water is used. The level of lead in drinking water increases the longer the water sits in pipes without being used. If it sits 6 hours or longer, more lead leaks into the water. Also, acidity in water will corrode or dissolve lead in the plumbing more rapidly.
What Can We Do About It?
The only way to really know how much lead is in your tap water is to test for it at your tap. You can't go by the Consumer Confidence Report because that gives you the reading before your water goes through the water lines of the community or before it sits in the plumbing of your house.
The best way to be sure you don't have lead in your drinking water is to use a filter that has been certified to remove lead from the tap water. The NSF International has a useful tool on their website which enables you to find filters that have been certified to remove lead from tap water. Just check "lead" and any other drinking water contaminants you are concerned about, and you will discover which filters will remove those contaminants.
