Lead
Lead is a soft metal used in the manufacturing of countless products; these include petrol, ceramic glazes, batteries, ammunition, paints, plumping systems, and pipes.1 People who work in environments involving painting, construction, car repair etc. will obviously be exposed to lead every day, but did you know most of us are commonly exposed to lead as well?2
Lead can enter our body systems through skin absorption, inhalation, or ingestion. For adults, the most common source of exposure is diet (lead ions usually cannot pass through skin in adults) and for younger children, they are more likely to inhale or absorb lead through their skin by touching different objects such as soil, paint chips, and house dust.1 This consumer report will focus on lead exposure through drinking water, their negative effects, and what you can do or what product you can use to reduce the amount of lead in your water.
Lead can enter our body systems through skin absorption, inhalation, or ingestion. For adults, the most common source of exposure is diet (lead ions usually cannot pass through skin in adults) and for younger children, they are more likely to inhale or absorb lead through their skin by touching different objects such as soil, paint chips, and house dust.1 This consumer report will focus on lead exposure through drinking water, their negative effects, and what you can do or what product you can use to reduce the amount of lead in your water.
How Does Lead Get Into Our Drinking Water in the First Place?
There are two main ways lead can get into our water. First, lead could enter at the source: discharge from industries that burn fossil fuels, mine, smelt, and manufacture as well as erosion of natural deposits could all contaminate source water2 (such as Lake Ontario and Lake Eerie). However, you should not worry about contamination from the source since the danger of lead in our water has already been recognized by the government and laws have already been passed to restrict the amount of lead “allowed” in water distributed to your homes: in 2010, the WHO has stated a legal limit of 10 ppb of lead in water, which is insignificant enough that there would be no harmful health effects.3 What you should be worried about is the second way lead enters our water: through corrosion of lead pipes, solder, or old fixtures and fittings.4 This is where the majority of lead in tap water comes from because the government is not responsible for your private piping system and thus puts in no effort to reduce this kind of contamination. And the amount of corrosion that occurs in your pipes would depend on the amount of dissolved gases, the pH (acidity), how long the water has been sitting in the pipes, the length of the pipes, and the types and amounts of minerals in your water.5 Usually, more dissolved gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide in particular), lower pH (higher acidity), longer time and pipes, and low mineral content would cause higher levels of corrosion.5
If you live in Toronto, then you should be especially careful if your home was built before 1950 because lead was commonly used back then in service pipes. (You can the instructions here for a free lead test if your house was built prior to the mid-1950s.)9 But if your house is slightly newer (built after 1989) or if you live in a large apartment building, lead would not have been used in your pipe system (as lead is too soft to withstand pressures involved in larger piping systems) so lead exposure due to tap water would not be a problem for you. If you live outside Toronto, then you can go to a local drinking water authority – the usual charge is anywhere from $20-$100 for a lead ion test.7 Unfortunately, you cannot do any tests by yourself at home because dissolved lead ions do not affect the physical qualities/properties of water. You cannot identify the presence of lead ions in water by its appearance since water samples with lead ions are odourless, colourless, and even "tasteless".8 A chemical test is absolutely necessary if you want to know if there are lead ions in your drinking water.8
If you live in Toronto, then you should be especially careful if your home was built before 1950 because lead was commonly used back then in service pipes. (You can the instructions here for a free lead test if your house was built prior to the mid-1950s.)9 But if your house is slightly newer (built after 1989) or if you live in a large apartment building, lead would not have been used in your pipe system (as lead is too soft to withstand pressures involved in larger piping systems) so lead exposure due to tap water would not be a problem for you. If you live outside Toronto, then you can go to a local drinking water authority – the usual charge is anywhere from $20-$100 for a lead ion test.7 Unfortunately, you cannot do any tests by yourself at home because dissolved lead ions do not affect the physical qualities/properties of water. You cannot identify the presence of lead ions in water by its appearance since water samples with lead ions are odourless, colourless, and even "tasteless".8 A chemical test is absolutely necessary if you want to know if there are lead ions in your drinking water.8
How Can Lead in Drinking Water Affect My Health?
Anemia is an illness marked by a deficiency of red blood cells or hemoglobin.
(Free Online Dictionary)
Lead is a poisonous metal. Drinking water with lead concentrations higher than 10 mg/L can damage many organs in the body, including the kidneys, parts of the male reproductive system, the liver, lungs, the spleen, and even bones and marrow.2 It could cause anemia, increased blood pressure, digestive problems, muscle and joint pain, nerve disorders, irritability, fatigue, headaches and memory loss.7 These effects are especially fatal towards young children (~under the age of 6, including unborn children who may be exposed to lead through their mothers), as they can hinder a child’s mental and physical growth (e.g. cause learning disabilities, hearing problems, behavioural problems etc).2 (This is because the small amount of lead intake in an adult becomes a very large amount relative to a baby's body size.)4 Pregnant women should also be careful: lead intake may result in premature births, small babies, and decreased mental ability in the infant.2