The Dangers of Lead in Drinking Water
The Environmental Protection Agency has stated categorically, “Lead is the number-one environmental health threat to our children.” Years ago parents were shocked to learn that the paint used in their children’s rooms was actually poisonous because it was lead based. But even when that was outlawed, it didn’t eliminate the problem of lead poisoning.
Lead is one of the three most serious heavy metal contaminations we face. The other two are cadmium, and mercury. Of a lesser hazard are aluminum and beryllium. These heavy metals have no known biological function but can be detrimental to health, especially causing long range health issues. Lead can be ingested through car exhaust, cigarette smoke, some colored inks, cosmetics, glass production, hair dyes, lead-glazed earthenware, pottery, metal polish, and a host of other ways.
How does lead get in our drinking water? If you have an old house, chances are you are still feeding your faucets through lead pipes. Copper has been around for a long time but even if the house piping was replaced, the feed line from the street may still be old piping. If you have a well, the casing, feed lines, or storage tank may contain lead. If you are on city water, it probably has a level of lead anyway. I checked the test result of my city water and was not surprised to see the lead level was within acceptable limits. The water contained 2.5 parts per billion but could have as much as 12 ppb and still pass. However, the last check was two years before this report.
Concern over lead poisoning in city water systems only increases when one reads a report from the Washington Post. Their examination of 65 of the 3,000 largest utilities found that Portland, Maine, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Providence, R.I. are “manipulating the results of tests used to detect lead in water, violating federal law and putting millions of Americans at risk.” The report further states that more than 250 major cities currently exceed the EPA’s lead standards, and many are using deceptive means in reporting of the problems.
Though lead has no advantage to the body, it does cause serious problems. “Each year in the U.S., lead in drinking water contributes to 480,000 cases of learning disorders in children and 560,000 cases of hypertension in adult males.” The truth is, we cannot be rid of the problem of ingesting lead entirely. However, we can do as much as possible to minimize its presence.
The list of negative effects of lead in the system is long. Here is an edited version: abdominal pain, adrenal insufficiency, allergies, anemia, anorexia, anxiety, arthritis (rheumatoid and osteo), attention deficit disorder, autism, back pain, behavioral disorders, blindness, cardiovascular disease, cartilage destruction, coordination loss, concentration loss, constipation, convulsions, and deafness.
The list drones on and on. In summary, lead’s leading areas of concern are kidney problems and nervous system damage. As noted above, these are not the only problems but they are certainly problem enough.
Of course you are wondering, what do we do about it? How can we protect our children from the crippling effects of lead poisoning? Besides the obvious precautions of checking your house for lead paint and your water system for lead pipes, another precaution is effective- filter your drinking and cooking water. A good activated carbon filter like the Black Berkey or their shower filter will remove 95% of the lead that is about to be drunk. That one simple precaution can certainly go a long way in giving a parent peace of mind.
