Lead contamination in drinking water – Questions & Answers

BY DUNIA MAG

tap water

Drinking water is defined as water used for domestic purposes, drinking, cooking and personal hygiene (World Health Organization). The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) protects quality of drinking water in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the body that sets standards and regulations required to ensure that all public water systems in the U.S. are safe:

To be safe, the water must have sufficiently low concentrations of harmful contaminants to avoid sickening people who use it. The list of harmful contaminants includes disease-causing microbes such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoans; cancer-causing chemicals such as many pesticides, organic solvents, petroleum products, chlorinated byproducts of the disinfection process, and some metals and metalloids; nitrates and nutrients, endocrine-disrupting compounds, strong acids, strong bases, radionuclides, and any other acutely toxic substance. – EPA

Fresh Water Systems, Inc. (FWS), one of the largest independent providers of water filtration systems in the US, has addressed concerns about lead contamination of municipal water supplies with a new informational video. The video features questions and answers with John Woodard, one of the company’s technical service managers who is certified as a Master Water Specialist by the Water Quality Association (WQA). The WQA is a not-for-profit educational organization that serves the residential, commercial and industrial water treatment industry worldwide.

While the current situation with the water supply in Flint, Michigan is in the headlines, the problem of lead in drinking water is not confined to any one location. As Woodard points out in the video, even homes receiving water from a well-managed municipal water authority can have high lead levels in tap water under certain conditions caused by aging or damaged pipes carrying the water into, or within the home.

According to the company’s website:

Lead ingestion poses a serious health risk to adults and especially children. Consuming lead causes irreversible neurological and development damage, and can lead to lead poisoning. This is a chronic illness that can lead to learning, behavoiral, and developmental issues. It can also cause severe damage to the immune system, bones, and teeth.

The video also addresses concerns about harmful bacteria found in water, such as those causing E. coli or Legionnaire’s disease, cases of which were reported in Flint in addition to the lead contamination issues.

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbY4TsnYNo4&feature=youtu.be” width=”560″ height=”315″]

 

Lead poisoning is irreversible. Up to 12,000 children may have been recently exposed to high levels of lead in drinking in Flint, Michigan where an estimated 40% of the city’s residents live below the poverty line.

 

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