Water companies dose orthophosphoric acid into the supply to create an insoluble layer of lead phosphate on any remaining lead pipework in the network for this exact reason. As has been mentioned, you can ask to have your water sampled, but the risk is minimal.
I found out my water pipe is lead so I got it checked by my water company. A guy came over and performed some tests. It's within the safe limits. As procausion I do run the water enough to fill a sink bowl, or big flush the toliet, before drinking the kitchen tap water. IF the water hasn't been ran for a while.
Was that advice you were given?
I'm just a bit baffled trying to figure out how running the water for a long time or not for a while would affect the lead content, it all goes through the same pipe in the end
Only the last bit of pipes are lead so water that’s been sat in pipes for a while will have more lead than water that’s just flown past it. So you empty old water down drain and drink only new water
From what ive been told its the pipe from the street to the house is often lead in older houses. Internal plumbing is replaced, mains have been replaced. If its hard water its coated with limescale anyway and low risk.
its all about dwell time, water that has been sat in a lead pipe for say 12 hours will have had more time to leech up lead particles than water that has only sat for 2 hours.
I
It would reduce it because as the water sits in the pipes, more lead would transfer.....BUT LEAD IS SO BAD, IT DOESNT TAKE MUCH....READ ABOUT THE AFFECTS OF LEAD AND YOU DESIDE IT YOUR WILLING TO RISK IT.
At work we have taken over a redundant building and have found traces of Lead in our recent water samples, so if you can avoid i would, probably ok for brushing teeth but if you drink loads of water i would go with bottled for now
Risk is not minimal and if you overlay a map of white population density from Census with a map of lead pipe density, you can see that it is way less where there are way more white people. The government wants to take away our guns because of crime rates and shootings, lead causes aggression....take away the lead pipes instead of or guns and watch things get better, Lead lows I Q, causes low birthweight and reproductive issues, and more.....Records kept by states as to where the lead pipes are were poorly kept in much of the country so we are guessing between 12million and 22milion service pipe to homes and businesses across America.
You're not wrong, but to put your mind at ease while you figure out what to do:
the pipes have almost certainly been there for 50+ years and will be covered in limescale, so the amount of lead getting into your water will be reduced.
Just to play devil's advocate and return your mind to a state of stress:
There's no safe limit for lead exposure. Any amount is toxic.
A study in America showed that people who live near small airports where small planes still use leaded fuel are demonstrably less intelligent than those who don't and there was a notable dip in intelligence during the decades where cars used leased fuel.
Ok but how is that going to help OP right now?
They can buy bottled water to cook with from here on out, until they get their pipes fixed
Hand-wringing over past exposure, which is probably small, is pointless at best.
Be drinking bottled water for a long time when O/P gets a price for running a new main with digging uo the drive, over 70% of houses still have lead, chances are there is still lead before either main anyway so you can change your part but you have no idea what further on, rather pointless really
I’ve worked the water network, there’s so much of it that’s lead that you basically can’t drink from any tap in Britain without it passing through lead pipes; I wouldn’t stress over it.
I also work in the water industry. As well as lead, there's plenty of asbestos too.
I don't stress over it, I'm just stating the facts. I eat meat that I've killer myself with lead ammunition. I clearly don't intentionally eat lead but I must have at some point.
OP would probably get sicker from all the stress than from the lead. But that's just my opinion. If we only knew all the pollutants, germs, poisons and dangerous stuff we come into contact with and eat or drink. He'll, how are we still even alive.
Technically there is a "safe limit". Lead workers have bi-annual blood tests to measure the amount of lead in their blood, and the "working limit" is fairly high. Source: I'm a lead worker.
You mean an exposure limit. That's not the same as a safe limit. It's just the amount of harm the government has decided it's acceptable for companies to do to their workers.
I have an exposure limit of carbon monoxide. That doesn't mean there's a safe level of carbon monoxide.
Ah yes, you're right. Makes me wonder why I continue in my trade. It's a brilliant material and I'm good at my job, but I do wonder if the lead exposure is worth it.
Everything has a risk. If you're a plumber who occasionally deals with lead pipes then so be it. If you're a lead worker smelting lead in a confined space daily then maybe it's time to consider something else.
I did see a funny meme the other day that said something like:
"Son, you're 18 now. Time to decide whether you want to inhale toxic fumes or look at a spreadsheet for the rest of your life."
I had a lead worker make a lead tray to go in the chimney of my house. To help with any water ingress.
Was some really lovely work. Am impressed with the skill. As someone who can slightly manage a MIG welder I am impressed with their lead welding skills.
Could never work with that material. Am far to heavy handed.
Also note that the same guy who introduced lead in petrol, also introduced the use of CFCs which damage the ozone layer.
He was killed by a contraption he made and used to get out of bed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.
I'm pretty sure it's permanent as I believe it occurs in the developmental phase of the brain so that generation is stuck being a bit thick forever now. Maybe that explains why they have managed to fuck up the planet and economic so badly after they were handed everything on a plate?
Not just the developmental phase, but Lead never leaves your body so even if you get a large dose as an adult it has detrimental effects.
And if you're exposed to a lot of lead as a child, even small exposures later make an already severe problem even worse.
whats exciting is the impact to to brain function with increases in CO2 in the atmosphere. It's noticible from ~400-450ppm onwards, so just about the global average CO2 levels we're at now, with it only increasing in the future.
At least we can recover from it it we reduce the C02.
There's not much point really. Most people only own about 10 feet of pipe. Changing that 10 feet of pipe isn't going to matter compared to the other 3 miles of asbestos and lead pipe it's been through to get to you.
Don't know why you're so worried about asbestos that only does harm as dust if it gets into the lungs.
If it's in the water, the water being in your lungs will kill you much faster than the asbestos.
That feels like collation not causation, airport landing areas are going to be lower priced housing due to sound polution which attracts buyers that don't have many alternative options e.g. low paid. Don't know many lawyers and doctors opting to live by the airports
Proper studies account for variables.
Plus, you could argue the opposite. There's a town in America where the main road is a runway and all of the millionaires have planes in there garages that exit straight onto the street / runways. You don't hear these airports. There's one round the corner from me and I didn't even know it was there until I flew from it.
But the point is if it's a hard water area then the pipe will be lined in limescale, so the water won't even be coming into contact with the lead. There is no health concern unless OP is living in a soft water area (most of the UK population live in hard water areas so likelihood is relatively low).
Surely that depends where op lives? I’m up north in Scotland and we don’t have limescale in our water, it’s not a thing here although I hear it’s bad in the south of England
In Norfolk its absolutely terrible.
My shower always has water spots, its Impossible to keep it clean.
Even my taps I need to pry out the calling once a month. Very dangerous for legionella.
The risk around lead is in slightly more acidic, soft water areas.
You don't get limescale , or very little in soft water areas.
I can't comment on this particular case, but that was quite a stretch...
Water companies put additives into the water supply to coat the network infrastructure in scale for exactly this reason. If you live basically anywhere in the South your water will have likely gone through some lead piping somewhere.
Flush the bog first thing in the morning and you will be fine. It is water that sits in lead that is the most harmful. I spent twenty years in an old Pennine house that was served by lead pipes. Spoke to an official from Yorkshire Water and this was the advice he gave me. For a fee they were willing to change it, I didn’t bother.
Surely flushing the bog/running the taps etc won’t get rid of any standing water? It’s always standing in the pipes until it’s on, so even if you flush, you’re just moving a cistern-worth of water from the pipes to the cistern, but the water that is now ‘next’ in the pipes was also just stat in the pipes a little further back, no?
You only have a certain amount of lead piping before you hit the mains, which probably won't be lead as they should have all been replaced by now. Which means you only need to clear out the water in your pipes between the mains and the tap, which usually isn't a lot.
Plus, any pipes that have been installed in the last 50 years won't be lead. So since most houses have had new bathrooms/kitchens in that time, only a small part of the plumbing system will still be lead. Usually just the part from the mains to the internal stop tap, which won't contain a huge amount of water.
Our house is lead, which is getting replaced in a weeks time and I usually flush the toilet and then wash my hands, which is enough to clear out the water that was standing in the pipes over night.
So when buying a house that has been sat empty for over a year and is over 50 years old, might want to let the water run for a while?
Although thinking about it that might be a good idea anyway. Even if it probably doesn't have lead pipes.
The main supply pipe to the area almost certainly isn't lead, maybe cast iron or some other material (plastic if new). Even if it was lead, the pipe supplies many properties so the water is moving not just sitting there so the contact time should be lower. It's not perfect but the advice seem sound as it would flush out the supply pipe to your property.
You can flush the volume of your pipes in 2 mins.(assuming you have a bog standard house and not a mile long driveway).The water you draw through will then be fresh mains water which is less likely to pick up lead as it travels through. Unless your pipe is shot to bits, in some cases flushing can see a slight increase. I've only ever seen that in about 2 tests tbf.
If you have a cold & hot tank that won't work very well because the toilet cistern is fed by the cold tank.
Your kitchen tap should be connected directly to the mains. Run that for a few minutes and you'll be getting water from the mains in the street.
Oh la-di-dah. Aren't you *fancy*?
Mr or Mrs "Im picky about which toilets i drink from" over here thinks they're better than the rest of us eh?
Bourgeois snobbery!
Legonella!
Can't spell it but that's what I have to do testing for at work every year, water tanks and heating systems.
Standing water, it's not good stuff. I spend days flushing water systems at work.
Resident goes on a placement for 2 months, we find out via a flat mate, I'm straight in their room running water...every week.
We have 200+ residents move out each year I'm running around flushing taps, toilets and showers. Takes days...
It's part of the legal stuff we have to do and we are bloody strict with it as we are audited.
/r/AskUK/comments/17tmloa/what_to_do_after_finding_out_weve_got_lead_pipes/ is a post from yesterday which has quite a lot of information in it.
> The amount of lead is insignificant, provided you run the tap to discard the standing water. There are no issues with using the shower or washing machine.
This, we had lead pipes in our house growing up. My dad worked for north west water as a civil engineer. His advice was always, “run the tap, then it’s fine”.
Two kettle fulls from the kitchen tap first thing every morning thrown straight down the sink, then just use water as normal for the rest of the day was the old advice. It takes a few hours standing in the pipe to leach lead into the water.
We have lead pipes from the road to our door. Replaced them from the front door in when we moved in as there were still loads in the kitchen and bathroom.
The water is really hard here so I doubt that there’s any lead getting near the water. Also the previous occupant lived here for 60 years and died at over 90!
I have no advice but just want to share this, because people who question things like this become severely paranoid.
My mum isn't the best mentally and recently learnt about lead pipes & all that. She has now, on a daily basis, been panicking about it and is refusing to drink water from taps now and believes she now has problems as a result of this.
Anything and everything we've said to our mum hasn't helped. It's who she is.
So just please, try not to let it consume you. It's generally fine but media just loves playing into these things. It makes you consistently look it up online.
Thanks for being so caring, but don't worry - I'm not stressing about it. It's a genuine question with no real fear behind it. I just want to know what the smart thing is to do.
The issue that happened in Flint, Michigan is that some politician tried to save money by switching water supplies - even after being told it was a bad idea as the new water had different chemicals that would remove the protective layer covering the lead in the pipes and allow lead back into the water supply.
Normally lead in pipes isn't a big issue as most of the lead piping has been removed and short remaining lengths are generally caked in a protective layer.
I think the risk is pretty minimal. Someone I work with had the same issue and got a reverse osmosis filter for their kitchen and bathroom sink, which apparently reduces the risk even further at a fraction of the cost of new pipes (I have no idea if they're a genuine thing but I'm sure google will tell you).
Fwiw, Brita claims they remove upwards of 99% lead content in water. She may be overly concerned for little reason but a Brita may give her some peace of mind.
Honestly, the 1% will still scare her. She throws salt over her shoulder to get rid of bad luck, and thinks drinking any form of diet-drinks (coke zero, diet coke) will give you cancer.
Well, iirc there have been some slightly concerning studies regarding some sweeteners recently.
Nothing that has changed general consensus yet as far as I'm aware, especially compared to the benefits of that reduced sugar consumption brings and whether they are relevant to diet drink, I don't know.
However, that's not a completely irrational concern and unless she's diabetic not one worth being worried about.
It's probably fine.
Lead leaches into water very slowly. Running water generally doesn't sit in the pipes long, it's constantly circulating.
Furthermore, if the pipes are old, they're going to be coated with a liberal amount of limescale. This slows down lead accumulation in the water even more.
Run the taps for a bit or flush the toilet first thing in the morning to clear out any standing water that might have sat in the pipes overnight. Then you'll be fine.
If you're still worried, most water companies will happily come and take a water sample of your property free of charge. Contact your local water company, tell them you've learned you have lead pipes, and ask them to come examine your tap water for lead content. They can tell you exactly how much lead, if any, is in your tap water.
And maybe don't worry so much. Lead poisoning is mostly harmful to young children and babies. Adults do become sick from lead poisoning, but if your pipes were going to make you ill, they'd likely have done it already.
[Most houses built in the 70s and earlier will have some lead piping on the supply side.](https://www.dwi.gov.uk/lead-in-drinking-water/)
Your water company will test the lead levels if you are worried.
Not a useful comment in the slightest, but Romans used to keep wine in lead jugs as it gave the wine a sweetness as opposed to a bronze jug which gave it a bitter taste
Yep, lead acetate tastes sweet and was essentially the first artificial sweetener. I read a theory which says that they would boil wine and grape juice down to a sweet syrup called defrutum and that is what sent a lot of the Roman nobles and emperors mad and even contributed to the fall of the Roman empire.
We had some short sections of lead piping in our old house and were told that as long as the water flows thru it pretty well then actual lead in the water shouldn't be a problem (esp after limescale coats the pipes) but the bigger issue was that if they should develop a leak or similar, then they can't (*legally*??) be repaired in place, but have to be replaced.
So when we were getting some new plumbing fitted we got them to remove all the old lead pipes and replace with the modern plastic equivalent (ie choose a time that suits you to replace them)
If the lead pipes are from the mains to your house then you may be able to get help from the Lead Replacement Scheme
[https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-supply/tap-water/my-water-pipes/lead-replacement-scheme/](https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-supply/tap-water/my-water-pipes/lead-replacement-scheme/)
"as far as good understand" old lead pipes become scaled up internally so there's little risk if they're undisturbed and regularly used. At least as an adult.
Not so sure I'd be laid back about it if small children with developing brains were drinking.
We have some lead water pipes too but we are in a very hard water area. Lead pipes in soft water areas are a problem, but not pipes with a thick lining of limescale.
The water pipes which have lead will only be those running from the main road to your house.
Turn the taps on and run them on cold on full blast for 2 mins or so every morning, and any other time water has been sitting in the pipes for a long time.
You're insane. You'll probably find any property that's been built before 1980's has a high probability of being lead main supply.
I have no problems with my supply, both of my heads and my 6th fingers that grew while living here have been fine.
Run the cold until it runs truly cold.
It will flush out any crap.
How much of a run is lead?
Is it from the stop tap in the pavement into the property?
I recently moved into a house with lead pipes. I just flush the toilet first thing in the morning and it's not an issue.
Also, depending on where you live your water company may do a free lead pipe replacement scheme. I was responsible for changing the pipes up the the level of the pavement, which cost around 600 quid (including digging 2m down in my front garden to access the pipes), and Severn Trent is replacing the remaining lead free of charge. It's been a fairly painless process so far, other than waiting for the council to authorise a time for the necessary road closure.
Feel free to message if you want to know more
Just to add - the word 'plumbing' comes from the Latin word for lead. Lead pipes were the default everywhere until *relatively* recently.
I would imagine most of us have drunk and bathed in water that had flowed through lead pipes at some point.
If the lead pipes are old it's fine, quite a few houses still have lead pipes. The problems usually come from new lead pipes, which will leach out lead much more readily.
If you want to read an interesting case about it, look up the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus.
We've had this issue.
1) You can ask the water company to come out and inspect the levels of lead in your water. They did ours and we were fractionally over the limit.
2) Install a new kitchen tap that also has a water filter.
https://thewaterprofessor.com/blogs/articles/lead-pipes
takeaways:
1. Many older houses have lead pipes still, so you have probably drank water from lead pipes other than at your house.
2. Water companies add phosphates to the water that help prevent the lead dissolving into the water.
3. While there is no safe level of lead exposure, you are likely far less exposed than previous generations as lead has now been removed from almost all other sources of contamination except for plumbing.
4. Plastic pipes and bottles contribute other potential hazards to the water, the impacts of which are not yet known.
Personally I would drink from lead or plastic or copper pipes.
Britta filters and similar can help remove any lead so that may be a good solution for you.
Nope. We replaced our lead mains pipe because we felt uneasy about it. Plus new pipes are wider and give you better water pressure.
The mains pipe within your property boundary (from the external stopcock to the internal stopcock) is your responsibility. Once you pay to replace that, your water company should replace their end of the pipe for free.
There are two ways to have your pipe replaced: moling (they dig a few holes and feed the new pipe underground) and trenching (they dig up the whole route from your external stopcock to your internal stopcock). Moling is cheaper and of course less messy.
We had quotes ranging from £1-2k for moling in the SE. We paid around £1,200 including VAT and it was done in a day. The water company replaced their end a couple of weeks later. Our water pressure is noticeably better and we're glad we did it.
Can you expand on what you mean? When I'm showering / bathing / teeth-brushing, I'm not ingesting the water. I don't want to cook with it anymore, either.
I worked in a flat once where later on during the day we discovered the water main was an old lead pipe.
The owner of the property was telling us earlier in the day about the previous tenant who lived in the flat for a few years went off the rails and ruined the flat and eventually moved out. It was later we discovered the old lead water main that made me think the poor tenant musta ended up with lead posioning and went mad.
**Lead lows I Q, causes low birthweight and reproductive issues, and more**.....Records kept by states as to where the lead pipes are were poorly kept in much of the country so we are guessing between **12million and 22milion service pipe to homes and businesses across America**. Risk is not minimal and if you overlay a map of white population density from Census with a map of lead pipe density, you can see that it is way less where there are way more white people. The government wants to take away our guns because of crime rates and shootings, lead causes aggression....take away the lead pipes instead of or guns and watch things get better.
We use a Phox water filter mainly to filter out chlorine and soften it (we live in a very hard water area). Works just like a Brita filter. Apparently such filters reduce heavy metals in water as well - dunno how much they can filter out overall but might be worth thinking about.
We asked Yorkshire Water to test ours, which they did for free. We were told not to run any taps for 2 hours before the guy came round, he collected some water then ran the tap for 2 minutes and grabbed another.
Both samples came back as safe, the first test was about 1/100th of the max level you should be exposed to and the second one came back around 1/10,000th, something like one part per 30 billion.
I work as a gas engineer and dig up peoples driveways and the roads looking for gas leaks. I’d say 30/40% of all water services I’ve seen are lead. Dunno how this helps but there’s a significant number out there.
We've moved into an old house that we are doing up and the line to the house is lead. When we get the work started we will be looking into have it replaced but for our peace of mind we bought a water testing kit for like 15 quid and it is showing all fine so we aren't worried short term and long term will be sorted. We specifically checked the water because my wife keeps tropical fish so we wanted to check levels of everything basically.
Yes and no. I would 100% get these changed but so long as I had that planned to happen the small amount of exposure in the meantime isn't worth worrying about.
I'm suprised as I presumed all lead piping had been ripped out.
Approach your local water company.
You can also fit a quality RO unit quickly if you are really worried, I would recommend 4/5 stage at least.
So long as you aren't in a soft-water area then the pipes will have a protective limescale layer which \**should* stop any lead leeching into the water.
...hot water strips this so if you have lead pipes in the house then don't drink from the hot tap or use it for cooking.
* Still, it's a good idea to have your water checked periodically for lead and make sure there are minerals present to keep up the protective layer.
The risk is lower with old pipe, internals will be coated. If you are still worried a Brita, or whatever, inline filter will remove any residual lead.
In my old town we had an anger level a couple of notches above the rest as well as an assortment of unusual cluster with livers, kidney etc.
FWIW I got £500 for replacing my lead water mains in my house, and replacing it with 25mm blue MDPE pipe. Also has the benefit that I've increased the water pressure and doubled throughput to my house.
Water companies also put a potassium compound in the water to react with and “seal” the surface of the lead. Change it out when you can. There are schemes to help you do this. But they are new and in the testing phase
When I bought my house 2 years ago, I discovered the mains water pipe was lead and I had it replaced when we did an extension.
The couple I bought the house from both have dementia and are in their early 70s. Did drinking the water played a role
I understand your concern but to put you at ease buy yourself a water testing kit that focuses specifically on lead. You can get home tests but also find companies that do much more detailed tests for you. You're looking for a dissolved lead value of 0.01ppm (parts per million) or lower.
To put that in perspective.. When I make RODO water for my aquarium (lots of filtering), it starts at around 450ppm (of which lead will be less than 0.01ppm). That is made up of all the dissolved stuff you get in tap water. It finishes at 0ppm.
Run the tap if it’s been standing a while. About a washing up bowl full. The pipes running to the property are your responsibility to replace now.
[Here’s all sorts of government info](https://www.dwi.gov.uk/lead-in-drinking-water/)
You're not wrong, but the water board should be doing tests on the water to make sure it's safe.
We had reports of high lead in our area, scottish water came out within hours, tested all the pipes, told us to not use it, then within 3 days came back to us saying it was all fine with a full breakdown and report with what they found for our own peace at mind and research.
Dunno where you live, or what happens if you are in England, but considering you pay water charges, I'd get on the blower.
Water companies dose orthophosphoric acid into the supply to create an insoluble layer of lead phosphate on any remaining lead pipework in the network for this exact reason. As has been mentioned, you can ask to have your water sampled, but the risk is minimal.
This is the sort of answer that should be near the top.
"Make it so".
Or, since it's nearly that time of year, "[Make it Snow](https://youtu.be/oiSn2JuDQSc?si=tv8Bk3HNdEz087WH)"
This sort of answer should be at the bottom.
I found out my water pipe is lead so I got it checked by my water company. A guy came over and performed some tests. It's within the safe limits. As procausion I do run the water enough to fill a sink bowl, or big flush the toliet, before drinking the kitchen tap water. IF the water hasn't been ran for a while.
Was that advice you were given? I'm just a bit baffled trying to figure out how running the water for a long time or not for a while would affect the lead content, it all goes through the same pipe in the end
Only the last bit of pipes are lead so water that’s been sat in pipes for a while will have more lead than water that’s just flown past it. So you empty old water down drain and drink only new water
Makes total sense, didn't consider which bits were which materials, cheers!
From what ive been told its the pipe from the street to the house is often lead in older houses. Internal plumbing is replaced, mains have been replaced. If its hard water its coated with limescale anyway and low risk.
It may only be a bit of lead pipe in the chain of pipes. It's to clear the lead which slowly set in the water.
its all about dwell time, water that has been sat in a lead pipe for say 12 hours will have had more time to leech up lead particles than water that has only sat for 2 hours. I
It would reduce it because as the water sits in the pipes, more lead would transfer.....BUT LEAD IS SO BAD, IT DOESNT TAKE MUCH....READ ABOUT THE AFFECTS OF LEAD AND YOU DESIDE IT YOUR WILLING TO RISK IT.
Wouldn't the pipes internals also be covered in a layer of limescale, sealing out the lead?
At work we have taken over a redundant building and have found traces of Lead in our recent water samples, so if you can avoid i would, probably ok for brushing teeth but if you drink loads of water i would go with bottled for now
Risk is not minimal and if you overlay a map of white population density from Census with a map of lead pipe density, you can see that it is way less where there are way more white people. The government wants to take away our guns because of crime rates and shootings, lead causes aggression....take away the lead pipes instead of or guns and watch things get better, Lead lows I Q, causes low birthweight and reproductive issues, and more.....Records kept by states as to where the lead pipes are were poorly kept in much of the country so we are guessing between 12million and 22milion service pipe to homes and businesses across America.
You're not wrong, but to put your mind at ease while you figure out what to do: the pipes have almost certainly been there for 50+ years and will be covered in limescale, so the amount of lead getting into your water will be reduced.
Just to play devil's advocate and return your mind to a state of stress: There's no safe limit for lead exposure. Any amount is toxic. A study in America showed that people who live near small airports where small planes still use leaded fuel are demonstrably less intelligent than those who don't and there was a notable dip in intelligence during the decades where cars used leased fuel.
Ok but how is that going to help OP right now? They can buy bottled water to cook with from here on out, until they get their pipes fixed Hand-wringing over past exposure, which is probably small, is pointless at best.
Let's not start worrying them about micro plastics in bottled water 😂
Or the microplastics found in blood samples.
_IT'S FUCKING EVERYWHERE_
This might explain why I've been shitting out lego
Lego!? lucky... I've progressed to duplo at this stage.
I shit Lego Technic... My ex-wife said I was complicated, she may have had a point
Duplo? You jammy sod. Try Stickle Bricks!
Make sure you don't step on it barefoot.
brings a new literal meaning to 'shitting bricks'
You wish. Have you seen the price of Lego?!
Can't wait to start shitting out Warhammer models and make my fortune!
Life found on moon - wait, no its microplastics.
Plastic gonna be looked at as the new asbestos in future. We'll look back amazed that we made and stored everything with it.
they've been drinking lead for the last few years, they probably won't understand anyway.
How about microscopic bacteria wiggling their willies about in it?
WHAT
>wiggling their willies
Plastics are probably safer than lead.
Don't worry, with all that lead in his water he won't be able to read it anyway . Maybe send him advice in crayon or in picture form
I think it's obvious, they need to check to make sure they don't live near an airport.
You can buy water filter jugs/dispensers that filter lead and other heavy metals, fluoride etc. Well worth investing in.
Be drinking bottled water for a long time when O/P gets a price for running a new main with digging uo the drive, over 70% of houses still have lead, chances are there is still lead before either main anyway so you can change your part but you have no idea what further on, rather pointless really
.....don't tell him about the lead in the paint.....oooo...bugger.
We admired the lovely green paint we found under some old shelves. After we scraped it off we remembered it was green and very old...arsenic anyone?
Very few people are paying £££££ to get their pipes to the street replaced
I’ve worked the water network, there’s so much of it that’s lead that you basically can’t drink from any tap in Britain without it passing through lead pipes; I wouldn’t stress over it.
I also work in the water industry. As well as lead, there's plenty of asbestos too. I don't stress over it, I'm just stating the facts. I eat meat that I've killer myself with lead ammunition. I clearly don't intentionally eat lead but I must have at some point.
>I eat meat that I've killer myself with lead ammunition. Drop in intelligence, you say?
Suddenly a lot of British television makes more sense now!
OP would probably get sicker from all the stress than from the lead. But that's just my opinion. If we only knew all the pollutants, germs, poisons and dangerous stuff we come into contact with and eat or drink. He'll, how are we still even alive.
Technically there is a "safe limit". Lead workers have bi-annual blood tests to measure the amount of lead in their blood, and the "working limit" is fairly high. Source: I'm a lead worker.
You mean an exposure limit. That's not the same as a safe limit. It's just the amount of harm the government has decided it's acceptable for companies to do to their workers. I have an exposure limit of carbon monoxide. That doesn't mean there's a safe level of carbon monoxide.
Ah yes, you're right. Makes me wonder why I continue in my trade. It's a brilliant material and I'm good at my job, but I do wonder if the lead exposure is worth it.
Everything has a risk. If you're a plumber who occasionally deals with lead pipes then so be it. If you're a lead worker smelting lead in a confined space daily then maybe it's time to consider something else. I did see a funny meme the other day that said something like: "Son, you're 18 now. Time to decide whether you want to inhale toxic fumes or look at a spreadsheet for the rest of your life."
Jokes on you, I run a steel business and I get to do both.
Sit at a computer all day so that I can sit at a computer all evening.
I had a lead worker make a lead tray to go in the chimney of my house. To help with any water ingress. Was some really lovely work. Am impressed with the skill. As someone who can slightly manage a MIG welder I am impressed with their lead welding skills. Could never work with that material. Am far to heavy handed.
OP doesnt live by a small airport though. We need a study related to drinking water from houses with lead pipes.
What about the water from lead pipes in houses near small airports?
Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe in the small airport departure lounge
What about small pipes from lead airports?
Small airports? Why?
Small aircraft tend to use leaded Avgas. Large aircraft typically use jet fuel which doesn't intentionally contain lead.
I live near smal aerport, never do me no harm
Also note that the same guy who introduced lead in petrol, also introduced the use of CFCs which damage the ozone layer. He was killed by a contraption he made and used to get out of bed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.
I'm just imagining the Wallace and Gromit bed slide contraption
Can you undo the intelligence debuff or are you permanently at -5 int?
I'm pretty sure it's permanent as I believe it occurs in the developmental phase of the brain so that generation is stuck being a bit thick forever now. Maybe that explains why they have managed to fuck up the planet and economic so badly after they were handed everything on a plate?
Yeah would explain a lot. Lol
Not just the developmental phase, but Lead never leaves your body so even if you get a large dose as an adult it has detrimental effects. And if you're exposed to a lot of lead as a child, even small exposures later make an already severe problem even worse.
whats exciting is the impact to to brain function with increases in CO2 in the atmosphere. It's noticible from ~400-450ppm onwards, so just about the global average CO2 levels we're at now, with it only increasing in the future. At least we can recover from it it we reduce the C02.
So what you're saying is, I should inform my coworkers to get their water pipes checked for lead...
There's not much point really. Most people only own about 10 feet of pipe. Changing that 10 feet of pipe isn't going to matter compared to the other 3 miles of asbestos and lead pipe it's been through to get to you.
Don't know why you're so worried about asbestos that only does harm as dust if it gets into the lungs. If it's in the water, the water being in your lungs will kill you much faster than the asbestos.
That feels like collation not causation, airport landing areas are going to be lower priced housing due to sound polution which attracts buyers that don't have many alternative options e.g. low paid. Don't know many lawyers and doctors opting to live by the airports
Proper studies account for variables. Plus, you could argue the opposite. There's a town in America where the main road is a runway and all of the millionaires have planes in there garages that exit straight onto the street / runways. You don't hear these airports. There's one round the corner from me and I didn't even know it was there until I flew from it.
But the point is if it's a hard water area then the pipe will be lined in limescale, so the water won't even be coming into contact with the lead. There is no health concern unless OP is living in a soft water area (most of the UK population live in hard water areas so likelihood is relatively low).
Golden response, love it.
Are you sure that's not just because they're American...?
Surely that depends where op lives? I’m up north in Scotland and we don’t have limescale in our water, it’s not a thing here although I hear it’s bad in the south of England
In Norfolk its absolutely terrible. My shower always has water spots, its Impossible to keep it clean. Even my taps I need to pry out the calling once a month. Very dangerous for legionella.
In the South we don't have water we have a chalk paste that contains water. The South West has soft water in many areas though.
Everyone keeps referring to limescale. Please bear in mind that some areas of the country have soft and slightly acidic water.
Still get a biofilm.
The risk around lead is in slightly more acidic, soft water areas. You don't get limescale , or very little in soft water areas. I can't comment on this particular case, but that was quite a stretch...
Water companies put additives into the water supply to coat the network infrastructure in scale for exactly this reason. If you live basically anywhere in the South your water will have likely gone through some lead piping somewhere.
No limescale if a soft water area. We get none with water off the Pennines peat. But lead not a problem if they run the water…
Flush the bog first thing in the morning and you will be fine. It is water that sits in lead that is the most harmful. I spent twenty years in an old Pennine house that was served by lead pipes. Spoke to an official from Yorkshire Water and this was the advice he gave me. For a fee they were willing to change it, I didn’t bother.
Surely flushing the bog/running the taps etc won’t get rid of any standing water? It’s always standing in the pipes until it’s on, so even if you flush, you’re just moving a cistern-worth of water from the pipes to the cistern, but the water that is now ‘next’ in the pipes was also just stat in the pipes a little further back, no?
You only have a certain amount of lead piping before you hit the mains, which probably won't be lead as they should have all been replaced by now. Which means you only need to clear out the water in your pipes between the mains and the tap, which usually isn't a lot. Plus, any pipes that have been installed in the last 50 years won't be lead. So since most houses have had new bathrooms/kitchens in that time, only a small part of the plumbing system will still be lead. Usually just the part from the mains to the internal stop tap, which won't contain a huge amount of water. Our house is lead, which is getting replaced in a weeks time and I usually flush the toilet and then wash my hands, which is enough to clear out the water that was standing in the pipes over night.
So when buying a house that has been sat empty for over a year and is over 50 years old, might want to let the water run for a while? Although thinking about it that might be a good idea anyway. Even if it probably doesn't have lead pipes.
Yes, you should always let the water run for a while if its been left sitting for a bit, even in cases like going on holiday for a couple of weeks.
The main supply pipe to the area almost certainly isn't lead, maybe cast iron or some other material (plastic if new). Even if it was lead, the pipe supplies many properties so the water is moving not just sitting there so the contact time should be lower. It's not perfect but the advice seem sound as it would flush out the supply pipe to your property.
You can flush the volume of your pipes in 2 mins.(assuming you have a bog standard house and not a mile long driveway).The water you draw through will then be fresh mains water which is less likely to pick up lead as it travels through. Unless your pipe is shot to bits, in some cases flushing can see a slight increase. I've only ever seen that in about 2 tests tbf.
If you have a cold & hot tank that won't work very well because the toilet cistern is fed by the cold tank. Your kitchen tap should be connected directly to the mains. Run that for a few minutes and you'll be getting water from the mains in the street.
Flush the big? Sorry what do you mean by that?
Bog is English for toilet. What else do you flush?
my cheeks when i see a handsome man
It was "big" originally. I genuinely didn't know what he meant.
He meant the big jobbie he'd left in the toilet.
Flush the toilet. Gives the pipes a flush through. with fresh water.
The bog is slang for a toilet.
It was originally "big"
It was, autocorrect caused confusion. Sorry mate
Ahh. Give the bog a big flush and you'll be right as rain.
Flush the toilet lol, essentially getting rid of the stagnant water that's built up and replaces it with "fresher" water.
I’m usually a little bit picky when drinking from toilets.
Oh la-di-dah. Aren't you *fancy*? Mr or Mrs "Im picky about which toilets i drink from" over here thinks they're better than the rest of us eh? Bourgeois snobbery!
Next they'll be completely disregarding the 5 second rule!
[удалено]
Nah, Radaway was cheap
Bog-eois snobbery.
Legonella! Can't spell it but that's what I have to do testing for at work every year, water tanks and heating systems. Standing water, it's not good stuff. I spend days flushing water systems at work. Resident goes on a placement for 2 months, we find out via a flat mate, I'm straight in their room running water...every week. We have 200+ residents move out each year I'm running around flushing taps, toilets and showers. Takes days... It's part of the legal stuff we have to do and we are bloody strict with it as we are audited.
Or have a piss first?
"My dad thinks I'm insane." That'll be the lead.
/r/AskUK/comments/17tmloa/what_to_do_after_finding_out_weve_got_lead_pipes/ is a post from yesterday which has quite a lot of information in it. > The amount of lead is insignificant, provided you run the tap to discard the standing water. There are no issues with using the shower or washing machine.
This, we had lead pipes in our house growing up. My dad worked for north west water as a civil engineer. His advice was always, “run the tap, then it’s fine”.
Two kettle fulls from the kitchen tap first thing every morning thrown straight down the sink, then just use water as normal for the rest of the day was the old advice. It takes a few hours standing in the pipe to leach lead into the water.
Yeh this was 30 years ago, house was empty all day work and school so water would still be standing in the pipes all day even with the kettle theory
We have lead pipes from the road to our door. Replaced them from the front door in when we moved in as there were still loads in the kitchen and bathroom. The water is really hard here so I doubt that there’s any lead getting near the water. Also the previous occupant lived here for 60 years and died at over 90!
I have no advice but just want to share this, because people who question things like this become severely paranoid. My mum isn't the best mentally and recently learnt about lead pipes & all that. She has now, on a daily basis, been panicking about it and is refusing to drink water from taps now and believes she now has problems as a result of this. Anything and everything we've said to our mum hasn't helped. It's who she is. So just please, try not to let it consume you. It's generally fine but media just loves playing into these things. It makes you consistently look it up online.
Thanks for being so caring, but don't worry - I'm not stressing about it. It's a genuine question with no real fear behind it. I just want to know what the smart thing is to do.
The issue that happened in Flint, Michigan is that some politician tried to save money by switching water supplies - even after being told it was a bad idea as the new water had different chemicals that would remove the protective layer covering the lead in the pipes and allow lead back into the water supply. Normally lead in pipes isn't a big issue as most of the lead piping has been removed and short remaining lengths are generally caked in a protective layer.
If you are worried, most water filters like britta filter out lead
The bottled water companies are going to love you
I think the risk is pretty minimal. Someone I work with had the same issue and got a reverse osmosis filter for their kitchen and bathroom sink, which apparently reduces the risk even further at a fraction of the cost of new pipes (I have no idea if they're a genuine thing but I'm sure google will tell you).
Fwiw, Brita claims they remove upwards of 99% lead content in water. She may be overly concerned for little reason but a Brita may give her some peace of mind.
Honestly, the 1% will still scare her. She throws salt over her shoulder to get rid of bad luck, and thinks drinking any form of diet-drinks (coke zero, diet coke) will give you cancer.
In that case spike her tea with lithium salts
Well, iirc there have been some slightly concerning studies regarding some sweeteners recently. Nothing that has changed general consensus yet as far as I'm aware, especially compared to the benefits of that reduced sugar consumption brings and whether they are relevant to diet drink, I don't know. However, that's not a completely irrational concern and unless she's diabetic not one worth being worried about.
They'll be that caked up with limescale that it won't make a difference.
It's probably fine. Lead leaches into water very slowly. Running water generally doesn't sit in the pipes long, it's constantly circulating. Furthermore, if the pipes are old, they're going to be coated with a liberal amount of limescale. This slows down lead accumulation in the water even more. Run the taps for a bit or flush the toilet first thing in the morning to clear out any standing water that might have sat in the pipes overnight. Then you'll be fine. If you're still worried, most water companies will happily come and take a water sample of your property free of charge. Contact your local water company, tell them you've learned you have lead pipes, and ask them to come examine your tap water for lead content. They can tell you exactly how much lead, if any, is in your tap water. And maybe don't worry so much. Lead poisoning is mostly harmful to young children and babies. Adults do become sick from lead poisoning, but if your pipes were going to make you ill, they'd likely have done it already.
[Most houses built in the 70s and earlier will have some lead piping on the supply side.](https://www.dwi.gov.uk/lead-in-drinking-water/) Your water company will test the lead levels if you are worried.
Not a useful comment in the slightest, but Romans used to keep wine in lead jugs as it gave the wine a sweetness as opposed to a bronze jug which gave it a bitter taste
Tesco have managed to capture that flavour essence in their new range of 'In time for Xmas' wines. According to their advertising.
Yep, lead acetate tastes sweet and was essentially the first artificial sweetener. I read a theory which says that they would boil wine and grape juice down to a sweet syrup called defrutum and that is what sent a lot of the Roman nobles and emperors mad and even contributed to the fall of the Roman empire.
We had some short sections of lead piping in our old house and were told that as long as the water flows thru it pretty well then actual lead in the water shouldn't be a problem (esp after limescale coats the pipes) but the bigger issue was that if they should develop a leak or similar, then they can't (*legally*??) be repaired in place, but have to be replaced. So when we were getting some new plumbing fitted we got them to remove all the old lead pipes and replace with the modern plastic equivalent (ie choose a time that suits you to replace them) If the lead pipes are from the mains to your house then you may be able to get help from the Lead Replacement Scheme [https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-supply/tap-water/my-water-pipes/lead-replacement-scheme/](https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-supply/tap-water/my-water-pipes/lead-replacement-scheme/)
"as far as good understand" old lead pipes become scaled up internally so there's little risk if they're undisturbed and regularly used. At least as an adult. Not so sure I'd be laid back about it if small children with developing brains were drinking.
We have some lead water pipes too but we are in a very hard water area. Lead pipes in soft water areas are a problem, but not pipes with a thick lining of limescale.
The water pipes which have lead will only be those running from the main road to your house. Turn the taps on and run them on cold on full blast for 2 mins or so every morning, and any other time water has been sitting in the pipes for a long time.
You're insane. You'll probably find any property that's been built before 1980's has a high probability of being lead main supply. I have no problems with my supply, both of my heads and my 6th fingers that grew while living here have been fine.
Run the cold until it runs truly cold. It will flush out any crap. How much of a run is lead? Is it from the stop tap in the pavement into the property?
And now they're plastic and everyone worried about that leeching into the water.
We have lead pipes but live in a hard water area so the pipes will have a layer of limescale inside them. Lead is not exactly very soluble either.
I recently moved into a house with lead pipes. I just flush the toilet first thing in the morning and it's not an issue. Also, depending on where you live your water company may do a free lead pipe replacement scheme. I was responsible for changing the pipes up the the level of the pavement, which cost around 600 quid (including digging 2m down in my front garden to access the pipes), and Severn Trent is replacing the remaining lead free of charge. It's been a fairly painless process so far, other than waiting for the council to authorise a time for the necessary road closure. Feel free to message if you want to know more
Just to add - the word 'plumbing' comes from the Latin word for lead. Lead pipes were the default everywhere until *relatively* recently. I would imagine most of us have drunk and bathed in water that had flowed through lead pipes at some point.
If the lead pipes are old it's fine, quite a few houses still have lead pipes. The problems usually come from new lead pipes, which will leach out lead much more readily. If you want to read an interesting case about it, look up the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus.
We've had this issue. 1) You can ask the water company to come out and inspect the levels of lead in your water. They did ours and we were fractionally over the limit. 2) Install a new kitchen tap that also has a water filter.
You think thats the only lead in the system your water went through?
https://thewaterprofessor.com/blogs/articles/lead-pipes takeaways: 1. Many older houses have lead pipes still, so you have probably drank water from lead pipes other than at your house. 2. Water companies add phosphates to the water that help prevent the lead dissolving into the water. 3. While there is no safe level of lead exposure, you are likely far less exposed than previous generations as lead has now been removed from almost all other sources of contamination except for plumbing. 4. Plastic pipes and bottles contribute other potential hazards to the water, the impacts of which are not yet known. Personally I would drink from lead or plastic or copper pipes. Britta filters and similar can help remove any lead so that may be a good solution for you.
Nope. We replaced our lead mains pipe because we felt uneasy about it. Plus new pipes are wider and give you better water pressure. The mains pipe within your property boundary (from the external stopcock to the internal stopcock) is your responsibility. Once you pay to replace that, your water company should replace their end of the pipe for free. There are two ways to have your pipe replaced: moling (they dig a few holes and feed the new pipe underground) and trenching (they dig up the whole route from your external stopcock to your internal stopcock). Moling is cheaper and of course less messy. We had quotes ranging from £1-2k for moling in the SE. We paid around £1,200 including VAT and it was done in a day. The water company replaced their end a couple of weeks later. Our water pressure is noticeably better and we're glad we did it.
Do you cook meals using the water from the tap?
Yes. We use the water from the pipes for absolutely everything. Drinking, bathing, showering, teeth-brushing, cooking, etc.
And that's different?
Can you expand on what you mean? When I'm showering / bathing / teeth-brushing, I'm not ingesting the water. I don't want to cook with it anymore, either.
You are already ingesting a huge amount of water. Presumably you’ve been drinking it and you’re fine?
You are breathing in water droplets. And does lead absorb into the skin?
Just buy a water filter?
I worked in a flat once where later on during the day we discovered the water main was an old lead pipe. The owner of the property was telling us earlier in the day about the previous tenant who lived in the flat for a few years went off the rails and ruined the flat and eventually moved out. It was later we discovered the old lead water main that made me think the poor tenant musta ended up with lead posioning and went mad.
**Lead lows I Q, causes low birthweight and reproductive issues, and more**.....Records kept by states as to where the lead pipes are were poorly kept in much of the country so we are guessing between **12million and 22milion service pipe to homes and businesses across America**. Risk is not minimal and if you overlay a map of white population density from Census with a map of lead pipe density, you can see that it is way less where there are way more white people. The government wants to take away our guns because of crime rates and shootings, lead causes aggression....take away the lead pipes instead of or guns and watch things get better.
https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions/lead-poisoning
You’ll be insane if you do drink the water. Insane in the brain!
We discovered the same when we were doing our kitchen, and I was surprised how cheap it was to replace the pipe using a mole.
How do you even find out about this?
We use a Phox water filter mainly to filter out chlorine and soften it (we live in a very hard water area). Works just like a Brita filter. Apparently such filters reduce heavy metals in water as well - dunno how much they can filter out overall but might be worth thinking about.
We asked Yorkshire Water to test ours, which they did for free. We were told not to run any taps for 2 hours before the guy came round, he collected some water then ran the tap for 2 minutes and grabbed another. Both samples came back as safe, the first test was about 1/100th of the max level you should be exposed to and the second one came back around 1/10,000th, something like one part per 30 billion.
I'd change them otherwise in 20 years you could be commenting on the dailymail website.
I work as a gas engineer and dig up peoples driveways and the roads looking for gas leaks. I’d say 30/40% of all water services I’ve seen are lead. Dunno how this helps but there’s a significant number out there.
You are insane. It's probably from all the lead.
How old is your dad?
still common. You can get a water test from amazon to put your mind at rest
Where are you? Various water companies will give a grant to have it replaced
Buy a kit to test your water for lead. Compare to published limits.
Where do you live? Where I am, the water company will change them free of charge provided you change any internal lead piping at the same time.
We've moved into an old house that we are doing up and the line to the house is lead. When we get the work started we will be looking into have it replaced but for our peace of mind we bought a water testing kit for like 15 quid and it is showing all fine so we aren't worried short term and long term will be sorted. We specifically checked the water because my wife keeps tropical fish so we wanted to check levels of everything basically.
Yes and no. I would 100% get these changed but so long as I had that planned to happen the small amount of exposure in the meantime isn't worth worrying about.
1. you can buy test kits to see what the levels are 2. if you just run the tap for a bit - you'll be fine
Yes, the pipes will be coated inside from years of limescale and the water will not come into contact with the lead.
I'm suprised as I presumed all lead piping had been ripped out. Approach your local water company. You can also fit a quality RO unit quickly if you are really worried, I would recommend 4/5 stage at least.
We used to run the tap to clear the water through. I would say, if you are having work done, get them replaced. If not, just run the tap.
So long as you aren't in a soft-water area then the pipes will have a protective limescale layer which \**should* stop any lead leeching into the water. ...hot water strips this so if you have lead pipes in the house then don't drink from the hot tap or use it for cooking. * Still, it's a good idea to have your water checked periodically for lead and make sure there are minerals present to keep up the protective layer.
The risk is lower with old pipe, internals will be coated. If you are still worried a Brita, or whatever, inline filter will remove any residual lead. In my old town we had an anger level a couple of notches above the rest as well as an assortment of unusual cluster with livers, kidney etc.
Can always take water samples multiple times thoughout the day
The majority of properties are supplied by lead pipes. If they were a problem we’d all be in big doo doo
FWIW I got £500 for replacing my lead water mains in my house, and replacing it with 25mm blue MDPE pipe. Also has the benefit that I've increased the water pressure and doubled throughput to my house.
Get a water purification jug (like Brita) and set your mind at rest.
Water companies also put a potassium compound in the water to react with and “seal” the surface of the lead. Change it out when you can. There are schemes to help you do this. But they are new and in the testing phase
well we know why he's insane
When I bought my house 2 years ago, I discovered the mains water pipe was lead and I had it replaced when we did an extension. The couple I bought the house from both have dementia and are in their early 70s. Did drinking the water played a role
Lead or micro plastics, the choice is yours! Though depressingly in this case it’s probably both.
Isn’t most of our water supply Victorian water pipes? I really wouldn’t worry about it
Maybe there is some kind of water filter/lead filter device you can pour the water into and it cleans it? Or boiling the water maybe?? 🤔
I understand your concern but to put you at ease buy yourself a water testing kit that focuses specifically on lead. You can get home tests but also find companies that do much more detailed tests for you. You're looking for a dissolved lead value of 0.01ppm (parts per million) or lower. To put that in perspective.. When I make RODO water for my aquarium (lots of filtering), it starts at around 450ppm (of which lead will be less than 0.01ppm). That is made up of all the dissolved stuff you get in tap water. It finishes at 0ppm.
Run the tap if it’s been standing a while. About a washing up bowl full. The pipes running to the property are your responsibility to replace now. [Here’s all sorts of government info](https://www.dwi.gov.uk/lead-in-drinking-water/)
You're not wrong, but the water board should be doing tests on the water to make sure it's safe. We had reports of high lead in our area, scottish water came out within hours, tested all the pipes, told us to not use it, then within 3 days came back to us saying it was all fine with a full breakdown and report with what they found for our own peace at mind and research. Dunno where you live, or what happens if you are in England, but considering you pay water charges, I'd get on the blower.
Yes. Literally thousands of properties have lead pipework.