Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood

Re:Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in e... by kodah on Saturday March 19, 2022 @03:05PM (#30736686)

People have a lot of misconceptions about water infrastructure. Approximately 6-10M lead service lines still exist in today's world. (https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/lead-ser...) Most of that is kept away from you by treating water with a chemical that causes a rust layer to form over the lead, preventing it from getting into the water at dangerous levels. Phosphates are typically used for this purpose. (https://alliancewater.com/why-the-us-still-has-lead-service-...)

Cities do screw this up, as evidenced in Flint and other areas. Not all filters are designed to remove heavy metals or lead, so you need to be picking a filter based on that. (https://www.consumerreports.org/water-filters/make-sure-your...) There's also other stuff in the water, so picking the right filter for your area is important.

Whether you're an adult or a child lead poisoning is equally dangerous (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lead-poisonin...). It is something that can be tested for though.

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Re:Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in e... by graeme on Sunday March 27, 2022 @04:58PM (#30824075)

To clarify: the measured levels from my tap were high, though not crazy high. High enough the city gave a filter to local residents and said not to drink the water from the tap.

7 micrograms per litre, legal limit 5. This was after running the water for a few min.

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Re:Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in e... by 01100011 on Saturday March 19, 2022 @07:10PM (#30738401)

I wonder what happens after, say, an earthquake? Can pipes bend enough to cause cracks in the passivated layer and temporarily increase lead levels?

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Re:Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in e... by kodah on Saturday March 19, 2022 @08:30PM (#30738836)

Yeah, they probably could, but the phosphates are always in the water so it'll reform and the amount of lead that gets into the water when disbursed is pretty low ppm (parts per million). The fundamental problem is that this infrastructure is costly to dig up and replace, and the key word here is "service lines". Those are the lines consumers are responsible for paying for. Cities that have lead lines should be working with the EPA to set milestones and goals for yearly replacements with federal funding though.

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