puricarexfiles: LEAD IN DRINKING WATER - Too much lead in the human body can cause serious damage to the brain, kidneys, nervous system, and red blood cells. You have the greatest risk, even with short term exposure, if you are a young child, or you are pregnant.

Drinking Water Contaminants

Lead

Actions You Can Take To Reduce Lead In Drinking Water

Anytime the water in a particular faucet has not been used for six hours or longer, "flush" your cold-water pipes by running the water until it becomes as cold as it will get.

(This could take as little as five to thirty seconds if there has been recent heavy water use such as showering or toilet flushing.

Otherwise, it could take two minutes or longer.) The more time water has been sitting in your home's pipes, the more lead it may contain.

Use Only Cold Water for Consumption

Use only water from the cold-water tap for drinking, cooking, and especially for making baby formula. Hot water is likely to contain higher levels of lead.
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The two actions recommended above are very important to the health of your family.

They will probably be effective in reducing lead levels because most of the lead in household water usually comes from the plumbing in your house, not from the local water supply.

Have Your Water Tested

After you have taken the two precautions above for reducing the lead in water used for drinking or cooking, have your water tested.

The only way to be sure of the amount oflead in your household water is to have it tested by a competent certified laboratory.

Your water supplier may be able to offer information or assistance with testing.

Testing is especially important for apartment dwellers, because flushing may not be effective in high-rise buildings with lead-soldered central piping.

Why lead is a problem
Although it has been used in numerous consumer products, lead is a toxic metal now known to be harmful to human health if inhaled or ingested.

Important sources of lead exposure include: ambient air, soil and dust (both inside and outside the home), food (which can be contaminated by lead in the air or in food containers), and water (from the corrosion of plumbing)..
On average, it is estimated that lead in drinking water contributes between 10 and 20 percent of total lead exposure in young children.

Federal controls on lead in gasoline have significantly reduced people's exposure to lead.

The degree of harm depends upon the level of exposure (from all sources).

Known effects of exposure to lead range from subtle biochemical changes at low levels of exposure, to severe neurological and toxic effects or even death at extremely high levels.

Health Threats From Lead

Too much lead in the human body can cause serious damage to the brain, kidneys, nervous system, and red blood cells.

You have the greatest risk, even with short term exposure, if you are a young child, or you are pregnant.

Sources of Lead in Drinking Water

Lead levels in your drinking water are likely to be highest if:

- your home has faucets or fittings of brass which contains some lead, or

- your home or water system has lead pipes, or

- your home has copper pipes with solder, and

- the house is less than five years old, or

- you have naturally soft water, or

- water often sits in the pipes for several hours.

Young children,infants and fetuses appear to be particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning.

A dose of lead that would have little effect on an adult can have a big effect on a small body. Also, growing children will more rapidly adsorb any lead they consume.

A child's mental, physical, and neurological development can be irreversibly stunted by over-exposure to lead.

In infants, whose diet consists of liquids made with water - such as baby formula - lead in drinking water makes up an even greater proportion of total lead exposure (40 to 60 percent).

Typically, lead gets into your water after the water leaves your local treatment plant or your well. That is, the source of lead in your home's water is most likely pipe or solder in your home's own plumbing.

The most common cause is corrosion, a reaction between the water and the lead pipes or solder.

Dissolved oxygen, low pH (acidity) and low mineral content in water are common causes of corrosion.

Lead-contaminated drinking water is most often a problem in houses that are either very old or very new. Up through the early 1900's, it was common practice, in some areas of the country, to use lead pipes for interior plumbing.

Also, lead piping was often used for the service connections that join residences to public water supplies. (This practice ended only recently in some localities.) Plumbing installed before 1930 is most likely to contain lead.

Copper pipes have replaced lead pipes in most residential plumbing. However, the use of lead solder with copper pipes is widespread. Experts regard this lead solder as the major cause of lead contamination of household water in U.S. homes today.
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New brass faucets and fittings can also leach lead, even though they are "lead-free." Scientific data indicate that the newer the home, the greater the risk of lead contamination.

Lead levels decrease as a building ages. This is because, as time passes, mineral deposits form a coating on the inside of the pipes (if the water is not corrosive). This coating insulates the water from the solder.

But, during the first five years (before the coating forms) water is in direct contact with the lead. More likely than not, water in buildings less than five years old has high levels of lead contamination.

Since you cannot see,taste, or smell lead dissolved in water, testing is the only sure way of telling whether or not there are harmful quantities of lead in your drinking water.

You should be particularly suspicious if your home has lead pipes (lead is a dull gray metal that is soft enough to be easily scratched with a house key).

If you see signs of corrosion (frequent leaks, rust-colored water, stained dishes or laundry, or if your non-plastic plumbing is less than five years old.

Lead in sources other than drinking water

Drinking water is estimated to contribute only 10 to 20 percent of the total lead exposure in young children.

A few general precautions can help prevent contact with lead in and around your home:

· Avoid removing paint in the home unless you are sure it contains no lead. Lead paint should only be removed by someone who knows how to protect you from lead paint dust..

However, by washing floors, window sills, carpets, upholstery and any objects children put in their mouths, you can get rid of this source of lead.

· Make sure children wash their hands after playing outside in the dirt or snow.

· Never store food in open cans, Keep it in glass plastic or stainless steel containers. Use glazed pottery only for display if you don't know whether it contains lead.

· If you work around lead, don't bring it home. Shower and change clothes at work and wash your work clothes separately.

U. S. Federal standards initially limited the amount of lead in water to 50 parts per billion (ppb). In light of new health and exposure data, EPA has set an action level of 15 ppb.

If tests show that the level of lead in your household water is in the area of 15 ppb or higher, it is advisable - especially if there are young children in the home - to reduce the lead level in your tap water as much as possible.

Drinking water is estimated to contribute only 10 to 20 percent of the total lead exposure in young children.

A few general precautions can help prevent contact with lead in and around your home:

· Avoid removing paint in the home unless you are sure it contains no lead. Lead paint should only be removed by someone who knows how to protect you from lead paint dust.
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However, by washing floors, window sills, carpets, upholstery and any objects children put in their mouths, you can get rid of this source of lead.

(EPA estimates that more than 40 million U.S. residents use water that can contain lead in excess of 15 ppb.) Note: One ppb is equal to 1.0 microgram per liter (µg/1) or 0.001 milligram per liter (mg/1).

Never cook with or consume water from the hot-water tap. Hot water dissolves more lead more quickly than cold water.

So, do not use water taken from the hot tap for cooking or drinking, and especially not for making baby formula.

If you need hot water, draw water from the cold tap and heat it on the stove. Use only thoroughly flushed water from the cold tap for any consumption.

A number of cartridge type filtering devices are available. These devices use various types of filtering media, including reverse osmosis, carbon, ionexchange resins, activated alumina and other privately marketed products.

The effectiveness of these devices to reduce lead exposure at the tap can vary greatly.

If you have bought a filter, you should replace the filter periodically as specified by the manufacturer. Failure to do so may result in exposure to high lead levels.

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