4 ms·

Fun fact: many major US cities still have lead pipes[1]. It costs about $20,000 to replace a lead service line from the water main to your home if you live in a

Fun fact: many major US cities still have lead pipes[1]. It costs about $20,000 to replace a lead service line from the water main to your home if you live in an older home/building, and the cities are not exactly working hard to replace lead mains. The cheapest way to lower your risk of lead exposure is to install an RO filter if you believe there are lead pipes (there are many different brands, but the one from APEC is popular and affordable). It has the added benefit of reducing exposure to other nasty things which have pretty much contaminated all the drinking water on earth like PFAS. I have an unsubstantiated pet theory on correlation between lead poisoning and crime in poorer neighbourhoods due to landlords refusing to replace these (why bother if you don't have to drink the water? landlords have no incentive so long as they can extract rents). In many cities you can get your water tested for free by the city, just do some searching. They've usually got an online form you can fill out and they'll send you a kit that you have to send back. [1]: https://www.nrdc.org/resources/lead-pipes-are-widespread-and-used-every-state https://www.nrdc.org/resources/lead-pipes-are-widespread-and...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Dylan16807 4y ago
At least you can prevent leeching from lead pipes. Can't really stop the lead from getting out of an engine.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
amluto 4y ago
> The cheapest way to lower your risk of lead exposure is to install an RO filter That’s much more expensive than the average NSF-listed filter. I believe most of them work by ion exchange, and they are a lot simpler and cheaper than RO. Get RO if you have serious hardness issues or taste issues that are not mitigated by a good NSF-listed filter with a carbon stage. https://www.nsf.org/news/concerned-about-lead-drinking-water-choose-filter-certified-to-reduce-lead https://www.nsf.org/news/concerned-about-lead-drinking-water... > if you believe there are lead pipes Just test your water. Even without lead pipes, lead solder on copper pipes can be a problem. Or lead in city pipes. Or anything made out of non-“lead free” brass or bronze. (Some of the latter has a shockingly high proportion of lead in the alloy.)
Spooky23 4y ago
Lead pipe risk is dramatically overstated. It’s the new asbestos, lots of noise and bullshit and little reality. What happened in Flint, MI was criminal negligence - literally. That system was operated safely for decades and started poisoning people because of political conditions in the state and incompetence/dereliction.
- bmismyname 4y ago
  Do you really trust the people running local governments to not mess things up? I certainly don't. I wouldn't trust them to look after my house plants.
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    The engineer in charge is usually competent and has the prospect of losing his PE at stake.
- AngryData 4y ago
  I agree. It should be phased out, but there is no reason to do it until you have to work on those pipes and disturb them. They are safe while they are calcified and are sending water that is suitable for metal pipes in the first place. Flint was sending basically acid down their pipes because of intervening incompetent and corrupt state officials. It made stainless steel sinks start rusting for gods sake. Even if the system was pure iron pipe that shit would have opened up like swiss cheese into the dirt and ground. Im not even sure if plastic water pipe would have been totally immune to such shitty and prolonged pH levels.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Dylan16807 4y ago

At least you can prevent leeching from lead pipes. Can't really stop the lead from getting out of an engine.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

amluto 4y ago

> The cheapest way to lower your risk of lead exposure is to install an RO filter That’s much more expensive than the average NSF-listed filter. I believe most of them work by ion exchange, and they are a lot simpler and cheaper than RO. Get RO if you have serious hardness issues or taste issues that are not mitigated by a good NSF-listed filter with a carbon stage. https://www.nsf.org/news/concerned-about-lead-drinking-water-choose-filter-certified-to-reduce-lead https://www.nsf.org/news/concerned-about-lead-drinking-water... > if you believe there are lead pipes Just test your water. Even without lead pipes, lead solder on copper pipes can be a problem. Or lead in city pipes. Or anything made out of non-“lead free” brass or bronze. (Some of the latter has a shockingly high proportion of lead in the alloy.)

Spooky23 4y ago

Lead pipe risk is dramatically overstated. It’s the new asbestos, lots of noise and bullshit and little reality. What happened in Flint, MI was criminal negligence - literally. That system was operated safely for decades and started poisoning people because of political conditions in the state and incompetence/dereliction.

bmismyname 4y ago
Do you really trust the people running local governments to not mess things up? I certainly don't. I wouldn't trust them to look after my house plants.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  The engineer in charge is usually competent and has the prospect of losing his PE at stake.
AngryData 4y ago
I agree. It should be phased out, but there is no reason to do it until you have to work on those pipes and disturb them. They are safe while they are calcified and are sending water that is suitable for metal pipes in the first place. Flint was sending basically acid down their pipes because of intervening incompetent and corrupt state officials. It made stainless steel sinks start rusting for gods sake. Even if the system was pure iron pipe that shit would have opened up like swiss cheese into the dirt and ground. Im not even sure if plastic water pipe would have been totally immune to such shitty and prolonged pH levels.