Safe Pipes: Lead in Your Drinking Water?

Bill Baue
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Lead is invisible, tasteless, and odorless, making it impossible to detect in water without testing.

There could be lead in your drinking water if your house has:
lead pipes, brass faucets and/or fittings made before the 1986, when amendments to the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act limited the lead content in brass fixtures to 8 %, or copper piping with lead solder, which is most hazardous when soft water runs through it.

Lead can also contaminate your water from lead pipes or lead solder used in water mains that lead to your house.

To determine whether your water has a high level of lead, you can have the water tested by a lead evaluation service certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or by an EPA-approved state lead program. Call your local health department or either of the following numbers to get started:

EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline 1-800-426-4791
National Lead Information Center 1-800-LEAD-FYI

If you haven’t tested your water or replaced pipes that are contributing to lead contamination, there a few things you can do to reduce the amount of lead that you and your family consumes.

Use cold water for consumption, as hot water dissolves lead from pipes and solder more readily.

Flush pipes of standing water. When water sits in pipes overnight, it has more time to collect lead. So make sure not to consume this water by running the water for 30-60 seconds before using it.

Install a water filter on taps intended for drinking water. Carbon filters remove lead effectively. For more information on water filtration, see Safe Drinking Water: Filtration.

Do not use unfiltered or untested water for boiling, which increases lead concentrations in water. Before boiling water, make sure the water is lead-free or has gone through a good water filter.

Bathing in water contaminated with lead is fine, though, as lead can’t penetrate skin. Nevertheless, because children tend to swallow while bathing, consider installing shower and faucet filtering devices, if your water has been found to contain lead.

For more tips about lead, see our chemical profile of it.

Other Resources

Protect Your Children from Lead Poisoning U.S. EPA

Preventing Lead Poisoning in Young Children (http://www.cdc.gov/lead/) U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Safe Drinking Water Hotline: 800-426-4791

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