My mom works for our local municipal government administering a HUD lead abatement grant. The state of lead contamination in many older homes in low income areas is just awful.
I recently did a full replacement of my lead-soldered water pipes in my 1970s home in Seattle. Despite how much people rave about how great the drinking water is in Seattle, many homes have older piping systems, which will test positive for lead in the drinking water. It was a very expensive and time-consuming project, but I am glad I did it. Unfortunately, many will not even know they are being exposed due to the clean water reports from the city.
When I was a child I was taught that ingesting lead caused insanity and brain damage. I was taught that the use of lead pipes was one of the main factors that caused the Roman Empire to fall. It was implied that modern man was smarter than that now and we stopped using lead in pipes.
As an adult, I learned that lead was still used in water pipes. Even the more recent "lead-free" pipes can still have a little bit of lead in them ("no more than 0.25% lead in the wetted surfaces").
cjs_ac ·74 days ago
asow92 ·74 days ago
Show replies
laluser ·74 days ago
Show replies
calibas ·74 days ago
As an adult, I learned that lead was still used in water pipes. Even the more recent "lead-free" pipes can still have a little bit of lead in them ("no more than 0.25% lead in the wetted surfaces").
Show replies
1970-01-01 ·74 days ago
Show replies