Ask Lemmy

First of all: Where in your system was the sample taken? At the well? At a tank? At a faucet?

The answer to this question is important for the next steps.

Be aware that high lead content can also be an issue for plant watering and even showering.

If the sample has been taken at a endpoint (faucet) I would try to get another sample at the well directly. If you are "lucky" the acidity of the water is the reason lead is brought into your system from a section of your transport system. In that case replacing the transport layer (basically: Get new pipes) is the best approach - while it's not cheap it is also not as expensive as filtering (or dealing with the health issues from lead, especially in the US).

If the well shows the same values you are screwed. There are basically two scenarios then: Your well installation itself is the problem - this is in theory "fixable" but expensive, but you might accidentally even poisoning your neighbours then. (The way to find out if it's your installation is either with specialised equipment or, for some confirmation, get a sample from a neighbour who ideally life upstream from you)

If it's not your well installation then it's the well itself...and then you really really need a more extensive analysis: Lead in a ground water deposit is somewhat rare and often a indication something else is problematic - both because geologically lead is often next to other nasties, but also because human caused pollution with lead often goes with the real nasty stuff like arsenic,etc. And you really would want to find these. Then shit sadly becomes really expensive.

How does one go about acquiring test results like this? The water at my apartment has always tasted exceptionally bad but I don't know how to check it. I've always run everything through a Britta filter, but it would be nice to do a proper test of some kind

I just wanted to add that a reverse osmosis system would bypass the lead and I think everything else there in your drinking water. If you are going to have kids in the house then you need to fix the lead issue because especially little ones will drink the bath water.

But yes, knowing why you have that much lead in your water and the source is important. It could be lead pipes or soldering. From my own research I found that, especially if it is an older well, if there is a lead packer installed down in the well then you'll have to get it lined at some point to stop the problem.

do you have fire insurance?

That's a lot of lead. Damn.

Were those samples from water drawn straight out of the well manually or did the test sample go through your pump/pipes? My main concern would be that the groundwater is contaminated with lead rather than the lead leeching from somewhere in the topside system.

https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water

Basically:

• It's safe to shower in
• You may be able to filter it out
• If I was buying a house, and the water tested that heavily for lead, I'd remove it from consideration.

The simple answer is don't drink the water: the heavy metal content (particularly lead) is many times higher than you want.

If you go down the filtering route make sure that your filters are accessible enough that changing them isn't a chore and set reminders so that you always change the filter. It won't be often enough that you'll build up a habit for changing them and you really want safe drinking water.

Reverse osmosis filtration. It can get expensive but cheaper than hauling water constantly.

Jesus o.o nearly 0.1mg/liter?

Maybe I'm really bad at unit conversions, someone correct my math:

human is 5L of blood (or 50dL)

98ug/L => 9.8ug/dL

15% of that gets absorbed if ingested

9.8 * 0.15 = 1.47ug/dL absorbed (per dL injested)

Your blood levels exceed worker exposure limits at 60ug/dL, and poisoning ranges from 30ug/dL to 330ug/dL.

So for this, if you drink a little more than 4L of water (which isn't that hard to do) you've exceeded your exposure limits.

Idk how long you've been drinking that water, but I would maybe get checked out by a doctor?

Not an expert but I do have a well. You definitively don't want to be drinking more lead than the EPA limit. I would get a filtration system installed ASAP and not drink from that well until it is installed, and especially don't let children drink the leaded water because they are more susceptible to brain damage. If anyone has been drinking this water it would be a good idea to get tested for lead exposure ASAP.

First of all, don't drink that stuff, and don't water your plants with it.

Loads of metals (Lead!) and still acidic. Not good. What is the source of the acidity? CO2? Acidity leads to metals getting dissolved, so this might the the point where to look.

Have a look at https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations - This does not sound good for your case.

Your worst problem is definitely the lead. Look at https://www.epa.gov/lead/will-my-filter-remove-lead for more information.

AND: Download the information from EPA - you'll never know how long they will still be available under the current administration.

Filters or buy water by the gallon. You'll have to actually talk to your neighbors, no one here can know for sure (unless your neighbor is here too).

They're doing one 1 of four things:

• Enjoying lead free water because its a problem in your house
• Enjoying leaded water ignorant of the lead.
• Buying lots of bottled of water.
• Installed a filter system.

Whole home water filters is what you want. Work with a filter company to figure out what you need.

Your neighbor might have different test results. My parents moved their we’ll 50 ft after it got struck by lightning and the water was very different.

I also refill filtered water for drinking. 5gal jugs, has a dispenser with both hot and cold. I do u-haul style water, not a well. It’s from the city but I prefer the taste of the filtered water.

If you can afford it, redo your plumbing.

You can also look into a whole house filter, ideally do both.

Alternately, do not drink, cook with, or water plants with that water and obtain your water elsewhere until you are able to fix it.

maybe you can make ion exchange filter work. remember to maintain it regularly and test water for lead content after filter is installed to make sure it works. ion exchange resins work best if water flow through them is slow