Lead in Water: Causes, Risks, and What to Do

Do you know what’s lurking in your tap water? Even if it looks clean, all sorts of contaminants could be putting your health at risk. In this blog, we’re looking at one common culprit: lead. Where does lead come from, how does it get in your water, how do you know if it’s impacting your health, and what can you do about it?

What is Lead?

Lead is a naturally occurring element — specifically, a metal — that can be found at low levels in the earth’s crust. It does offer some benefits, but too much exposure can be dangerous for humans and animals. 

Over the years, manufacturers have used lead in products like paint, batteries, cosmetics, gasoline, ceramics, solders, and plumbing pipes, which brings us to our next point.

 

 

How Does Lead Get in Water?

Think about your public water system and how big of a job those pipes have to do. In a single minute, many gallons of water might be rushing through the plumbing system.

Over time, those pipes start to wear down in a chemical reaction called corrosion. This means that the materials the pipes are made of start to dissolve and wear away. So, if your pipes are made with lead, you can end up with lead in your water.

The severity of the lead in water depends on several factors, including how acidic or alkaline the water is, the temperature of the water, how much and what types of minerals the water contains, how worn down the pipes are, and how long the water stays in the plumbing system.

What Are the Symptoms of Lead Contamination?

It’s easy to understand why some people don’t stress too much about lead in water. After all, since it exists naturally in the earth’s crust, it can’t be all that dangerous, right?

Not exactly.

Lead exposure might reveal itself through the following symptoms:

• High blood pressure
• Kidney, brain, and reproductive problems
• Headaches
• Abdominal cramps
• Muscle and/or joint pain
• Constipation
• Difficulty sleeping
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Decrease in sex drive

However, adults with lead poisoning don’t always show symptoms. In fact, they might look and feel totally fine. This further highlights the importance of ensuring that your drinking water doesn’t contain any lead.

There Are Already Restrictions in Place

It’s no secret that lead exposure is dangerous. In older homes, lead-based paint was common. But in 1978, these paints were banned for residential use. (This is why you should check the paint for lead if you live in an older home.) You might be thinking, “Who cares if it’s in the paint?” Well, paint peels and cracks, and when that happens, it creates dust. If you then inhale that dust, you’re inhaling lead.

Additionally, lead-free plumbing became a must, thanks to the 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act Lead Ban. This ruled that any system ultimately providing water for human consumption had to use lead-free materials.

We bring this up because sometimes, stories abound of our government exposing us to things they know are dangerous and then trying to cover it up. This is not one of those cases because, by this point, we have all acknowledged that we know we shouldn’t be consuming lead, period.

How Can You Get Lead Out of Your Water?

Lead is mostly undetectable. It’s not like chlorine, where you might give a whiff of something that smells like a pool. You can’t see, taste, or smell lead in your water, so the only way to know if it’s present is to test what’s coming out of your tap. You can either hire someone to do this or buy a water testing kit and do it yourself. At-home testing kits are typically affordable and user-friendly.

What if you end up discovering that there’s lead in your water? How can you remove it? This is why every home needs water purification technology.

You might be familiar with water filtration already. Maybe your refrigerator has a built-in filter. Or perhaps you’ve attached a Brita water filter to your kitchen faucet. You might think these are getting the job done — especially if you’ve got one of those filtered pitchers where you can see the water trickle through.

However, most of these filters aren’t up to snuff because they aren’t built with the necessary technology: reverse osmosis.

What is Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Filtration?

While reverse osmosis is incredibly effective, how it works is quite simple.

As a more concrete example, take a look at the screen on a nearby window in your home. The holes in the screen are pretty small, right? That screen stops (most) bugs from getting into your home.

Now, imagine a screen for your water, except the holes in it are infinitely smaller. That’s what a reverse osmosis water filter looks like. It’s so powerful and efficient that only one thing can penetrate it: water molecules.

Everything else is left behind — not just lead, but also arsenic, microplastics, fluoride, pesticides, and anything else that comes out of your tap.

Yes, your public water system is supposed to handle purification for you. However, these systems aren’t always the most reliable, which is why companies manufacture water filters in the first place. 

And if you have well water on your property, testing it for contaminants and filtering them out is 100% your responsibility. Reverse osmosis water purification is very well something you might need. 

Read our blog to learn more about how reverse osmosis improves your water.

Water Purification the Sans Way

The Sans water purifier uses a four-layer reverse osmosis filter, plus UV-C purification, to remove impurities and pathogens, including viruses and bacteria. It instantly dispenses hot water and auto-refills so that you always have clean water on hand. 

Don’t leave it up to your public water system. Take control of your drinking water today.