Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year, news about lead in municipal water supplies, particularly in Flint, MI, has been in the news almost on a daily basis. The lead and water issues with Flint's city water have touched off a debate about our water infrastructure that has been waiting to happen for a VERY long time. While speaking with a Detroit Water and Sewer employee, several years back, about some of these issues, he mentioned they still have some of the original water mains in Detroit that are actually hollowed out logs from the very early days. Although I found that very interesting it pointed out, just like most of the infrastructure in the United States, the water delivery system is antiquated and needs to be replaced across the US. The lead issue now in the forefront is just the tip of the iceberg to be quite frank. Prior to 1989 most homes and buildings, with copper plumbing, have either lead core or a 50/50 lead and zinc mix of solder that was used to install the copper water lines. So virtually every building, in that time frame, has the potential for lead contamination. Many school systems have taken the pro-active approach and are testing for any lead content in plumbing systems throughout the school system. Recently we had two school buildings in our area that tested positive for lead and one school had two drinking water fountains that tested positive so they are being re-plumbed and replaced.
How the Lead Gets Into the Water
This lead problem all came to light with the mishandling of the start up of the mothballed Flint, MI water treatment plant. The city of Flint was so far in arrears with their water bill from the the Detroit water authority their debt was being called in. So Flint decided it would be more advantageous and cost effective to bring back to life their old water treatment plant that had been mothballed for nearly forty years, to save money. They saved money alright, it just cost all the rest of us A LOT OF MONEY! In hindsight the Flint water problem may have been what was really needed to bring attention to this problem, educate the public about it and get the discussion started to resolve these water distribution system issues across the country.
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How do you know if your home has lead water mains coming into your house? Actually there is a very easy way to tell if you have a lead water main. A magnet will not stick to a lead pipe but will stick to either galvanized or copper plumbing. You will need to test the pipe that is coming directly out of the wall, from the street, at the water source. Lead contamination can come from several sources. Obviously the most common source are lead water mains coming into the home. Lead contamination can also come from copper plumbing lines that were soldered with lead core solder. This was very common up until 1987 when they passed new lead laws. Plumbers then began using solder that was 50/50 lead and zinc. Solder is now a mixture of Tin and Antimony 95/5 mix.
Many cities, like Lansing, MI, have taken a pro-active approach to this problem and began replacing their lead water lines ten years ago. It has been a pretty seamless transition, for Lansing, and they expect to have all the lead lines replaced by 2017. Lead in drinking water is a very serious concern and needs to be addressed for the health of us all. If you would like to have your water tested for lead contamination it is recommended to have it tested by a state certified water lab.
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Even if you have lead in your water there are many options to treat your home for lead removal and assure you have quality water for your family. If you suspect you have lead contamination in your plumbing the first thing you should do every morning is let the faucet run for several minutes to flush the water line of elevated lead levels. As this the time when peak lead levels can occur, after water sitting in the lines all night. Simple replaceable carbon block filters can be used under sinks for the cold water feed to remove lead and whole house lead removal systems are also available to assure your family has safe drinking water along with lead free water for washing and bathing. One of the many options for whole house lead removal is KDF filter media. This filter media uses a combination of copper and zinc and causes lead to plate out on the filter media holding it and the filter media would be replaced after a certain amount of gallons of water are passed through the media. This is dependent on the particular contaminant levels present. KDF filter media has some very unique properties that also neutralizes chlorine in the water at the point of entry (POE) or for point of use (POU) such as for individual faucets.
Below are some helpful links with important information related to your water and lead.
Good Water, Good Life!
Beauchamp Water Treatment and Supply
872 N Old us 23 Brighton, MI 48114
810 632 2000
www.beauchampwater.com
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Ray McConnell