Lead Poisoning

Apparently there is are a large number of problems with lead poisoning about, especially in children. The worst part is that because lead can't really be noticed by the senses you may not even know that it is there. A large portion of this is as a result of lead paint that is still in older houses which people might not even be aware of. If you take a look at

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there is a lot of information on the sources, effects, treatments and more of lead poisoning. There is also a free case evaluation that may be of interest. I hope this might be of help to some.

kr0

Reply to
kr0
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This really makes me wonder, when I was growing up all the piping in our house was lead piping . I seemed to have little if any effect on our generation. mjh

Reply to
mike hide

How the heck old you anyway???? :)

And where was lead piping still widely being used recently?

Lead in solder, some in leaded cast iron fittings (virtually all in waste, not potable water), other trace fittings here and there, but full-blown lead pipe for potable water???!!!

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

In Massachusetts (where the lead paint laws are strictes especially for multi-family's) You can take a class and do much of the work yourself. Once you have the place inspected (and get into a database where you are FORCED to comply within 2 years of the inspection date and can't sell your house until you comply) you can take a training class and become certified for moderate risk deleading.

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Reply to
odiggity

Lead has been used as the service line (lateral) from curb to house, coast-to-coast for a long, long time and most of those original lines are still in service. Lead was used because it is flexible and does not corrode. Only the availability of soft copper tubing in the late 1930's supplanted lead use.

Every water dep't has some type of plan in place to monitor lead levels at residences as a result of these lead lines. In *most* cases there is little cause for alarm. Some cities are voluntarily replacing the *city-owned* portion of these lines, which means usually from street main to curb. The homeowner is left with replacing the major section.

The water utilities add chemicals to the water (where needed) which form a protective coating inside the lead pipe (you can see it). This greatly reduces the leaching out of lead.

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a very typical statement from a utility.

Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

lead piping and you having an effect on your generation are not related

if you indeed had lead piping delivering your water (sure it wasn't galvanized?), you have been poisoned

the roman empire was plumbed with lead pipe; thus their water was poisoned, and some say the water used for their wine was a contributing factor to the fall of the roman empire

the english were poisoned in the 1600s and 1700s from lead put in wine shipping containers to enhance taste and minimize spoilage

amazingly, the word plumbing comes from the latin "plumbus" which means "lead" (the metal)

Reply to
effi

My house was built in 1952. Some of the pipes I've replaced were either lead or galvanized steel. All of the cast iron drain pipes have lead pounded into the joints. It must be how they used to do stuff.

Reply to
Kathy

My last house was built in 1948. When I sold it in 1981 it still had the original lead service line; as did many hundreds more in the area. The rest of the house was copper. I've never seen lead in the house, but many older houses had galvanized pipe.

I also lived in two other houses with lead paint. It was a very good quality paint because of the lead. No one ever got sick from it, nor did we ever chew on the painted surfaces. I realize there can be bad consequences, but , IMO, the potential hazard is over rated. DIY cleanup is no big deal if you take a few precautions.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

The joints were filled with oakum, a rope like material and then molten lead was poured around it.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

it gets worse, much of the solder used to join copper pipe in plumbing had lead in it until it was banned in the 1980s

many humans should be more concerned about dieing from stuff in their homes than dieing from terrorism,,,lead poisoning,,,copper poisoning,,,cadmium poisoning from galvanized pipe,,,,carcinogenic fiberglass dust,,,etc. etc. etc.,,,,

consider having your drinking water tested by a lab...

Reply to
effi

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I'll be d---d! Never heard of it. Perhaps since never had to deal w/ really old city water systems. Everything out here that I'm aware of was galvanized. I'll have to ask the City Engineer if there're any lead laterals in town...

Was it really nearly pure lead or an alloy?

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

effi wrote: ...

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While possible, most of those sources are strongly overrated as to their effectiveness as exposure mechanims. Solder is in the joint and on the outside of the pipe, for example, not in the flow stream except in quite small quantities that flow during the soldering. Etc, etc., ...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not say to go out there and see how much melted lead vapor you can manage to inhale, but come on now...

And, I am aware that pure lead as the Romans used for potable water ain't a good idea, but I'm still doubtful that that is what was used for the lateral spoken of in this thread...I suspect a lead alloy which probably has much less of a leaching problem than pure lead.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

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Ah so...obvious solution and understandable reason why will eventually become a problem...thanks.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

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And Speedy Jim educated me that it was lined...obvious solution on retrospect.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

I have to say nearly pure. Very soft and flexible and it will rub off on your skin. The trick to making it safe all these years has been the coating deposited on the inside.

Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

I have seen no evidence to suggest that there are people dropping dead in the street from the causes you mention. Everytning is deadly if you take enough of it . None of us get out of this life alive.

Get over it!

Reply to
Avery

No, Just because his water service pipe may have been made of lead DOESN'T mean that he WAS poisoned.

As other posters have mentioned, lead water service piping naturally coats over with minerals. That reduces most of the lead leaching out of it into the water.

Tests have shown that simply flushing a toilet once or twice in the morning before drinking water is drawn from a tap reduces the free lead in the water to virtually nil.

The same is true for the lead soldered joints that were used until recently. The joints coat over with minerals, greatly reducing the lead that leaches into the water.

The main hazard form lead in homes is paint dust from lead bearing paints. The major source of that is paint dust scraped off window frames due to the action of simply opening/closing windows. Peeling paint is another obvious source of lead dust.

I'm a landlord and have attended many lead seminars given by local and regional heath departments.

The main worry is exposing children under the age of 5 to lead. It can affect brain development.

Unless the exposure is extremely high, there is relatively little risk to adults.

I've worked with lead based solder, mainly in electronics but also in pumbing since I was 15 years old. I recently had my blood lead level tested after over 30 years of working with lead. My blood lead level came in at 1/10th the hazardous amount.

Ironically, in my city, the cases of lead poisoning in children has dropped by over 75% in the last ten years. However, only 10% of the inner city housing has gone through lead abatement/removal.

The reason why the lead posoning cases have dropped is thru not due to the removal of the lead. It has been due to more publicity, better house keeping and more parental awareness of the hazards (keeping lead paint chips out of the mouths of children, etc).

Doug

Reply to
Doug

Lead pipes from the utility to the house bring potable water into most of the houses in my neighborhood -- including my 1921 house. It's the original pipe. We're located in an urban suburb near New York City, so we're certainly not in the boonies. Of course, the building code wouldn't allow such a pipe today.

Reply to
Tom Miller

you excluded from your quote of my text the most important line i wrote

it reads "consider having your drinking water tested by a lab..."

as to solder effecting drinking water, see:

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also says "The only way to know for sure if your water contains lead is to have it tested."

this is splitting hairs, but a person's or family's health (especially young children) is well worth splitting hairs for

Reply to
effi

PLONK !

Reply to
effi

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