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For plumbing, they switched to "lead-free" pipes, which is rather misleading as "lead-free" means up to 8% lead. It wasn't until 2011 that they redefined "lead-

For plumbing, they switched to "lead-free" pipes, which is rather misleading as "lead-free" means up to 8% lead. It wasn't until 2011 that they redefined "lead-free" as being no more than 0.25% lead. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/09/01/2020-16869/use-of-lead-free-pipes-fittings-fixtures-solder-and-flux-for-drinking-water https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/09/01/2020-16...

magicalhippo 5y ago
That's straight out of Monty Python's rat tart skit[1]... "We got Acme's new Lead-free plumbing!" "Lead-free plumbing? As in no lead?" "Well 8 percent... rather a lot really..." [1]: https://youtu.be/bAs1_FxTyFs?t=198 https://youtu.be/bAs1_FxTyFs?t=198
mLuby 5y ago
That's absurd. How did they not run afoul of false advertising laws? (Oh, that federalregister.gov link says "The RLDWA revised the definition of lead free.") My layperson expectations: • "low-X": < 1/3 is X. • "trace amounts of X": <1% is X. • "X-free": no reasonably detectable amount is X. Obviously there's some wiggle room for how sensitive the detectors are, but it should be less that "trace amounts," i.e. 0%. This reminds me of "waterproof" which generally just means it can survive being splashed or rained on for a few minutes, but not submerged.