Lead in drinking water has made the news much more frequently and it hasn’t been for good reasons. Lead can have some devastating effects on the water and in the community. The one positive that comes out of all of these stories, however, is increased public awareness and the desire to protect your household’s drinking water from lead contamination.

How does lead get into our drinking water?

Lead is a very pervasive environmental contaminant. It can enter drinking water sources when lead water pipes corrode. According to the EPA, the most common problem for lead contamination is with brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures with lead solder. This is where significant amounts of lead can enter into the water, especially from the hot water. Homes built before 1986 are more likely to have lead pipes, fixtures and solder, thus making them more at risk of lead in drinking water.

Changes started for the better decades ago.

According to the CDC, beginning in the 1970s, lead contamination in air, tap water, food, dust, and soil began to be “substantially reduced, resulting in significantly reduced blood lead levels (BLLs) in children throughout the United States.” However, children are still being exposed to lead even today. Many of these children live in housing built before the 1978 ban on lead-based residential paint. Public awareness of these dangers is increasing and this means that demands for change are too.

Are there safe limits we can consume?

This question, of course, is a tricky one. Most people don’t want lead in drinking water at all – which is why a home drinking water system or water filter is recommended. However, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) has reduced the maximum allowable lead content – that is considered “lead-free” – to be a weighted average of 0.25 percent calculated across the wetted surfaces of pipes, pipe fittings, plumbing fittings, and fixtures and 0.2 percent for solder and flux.

So what adverse health effects are we talking about?

Here’s the most important part of this article. These adverse effects regarding lead exposure in both children and adults are well documented and no safe blood/lead level has been identified.

Since lead can be ingested from multiple sources like lead paint and dust as well as through contaminated drinking water via old corroded lead pipes, it is dangerous. The severity of the health effects depends on the concentration of the lead, the total amount of lead consumed and the length of time of the lead exposure.

Young children, infants, and fetuses are particularly vulnerable to lead because the physical and behavioral effects of lead occur at lower exposure levels in children than in adults. With kids, low levels of exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells. Low levels of exposure also have been linked to behavior and learning problems and anemia to name a few.

What can we do to protect our drinking water?

Our reverse osmosis drinking water systems will reduce lead levels in your drinking water. They will also improve water quality by removing other harmful contaminants as well. By protecting your drinking water point of use (faucets), you can rest assured that your drinking water is safe for your family and guests. Investing in your own protection, as experts and officials continue to brainstorm ways to fund and improve our community drinking water systems, will be worth every penny!