Is Lead Lurking In Your Tap Water?
Your tap water leaves your local water treatment facility free of lead. But what happens to it along its journey to your kitchen?
Denver Water’s Lead Reduction Program recently sent out a letter to high risk homes warning of the possibility of lead contamination, naming three specific sources:
Lead Service Lines: This is the pipe connecting the water main to your home. Homes built before 1951 are the most likely to have lead service lines.
Copper Pipes with Lead Solder: Until 1987, the solder used to connect copper pipes commonly contained lead.
Faucets: Since 2014, faucets are required to be “lead free.” Those installed prior to 2014 may contain lead.
What to do?
Replace any old faucets in your home, and if your home was built before 1987, consider having your water tested for lead. It’s especially important to protect developing children from lead contamination, so if you are pregnant or have a formula-fed infant under 2 years old, make it a priority. If you are a Denver Water customer you can visit denverwater.org/LeadTest for a free water quality test kit.
If you’re not sure if your water contains lead, Denver Water recommends the following:
“If water has not been used in the home for a few hours — such as first thing in the morning or when getting home from work— we recommend that you flush water from your internal plumbing […] by running the kitchen or any bathroom faucet for five minutes, running the dishwasher, taking a shower, or doing a load of laundry before using water for drinking or cooking.”
What if you find lead in your water?
You’ll want to get a high quality filter that is certified to NSF Standard 53 to remove lead. Reverse osmosis filters are the gold standard of filtration, but also the most expensive. Check out the Environmental Working Group’s Water Filter Guide to find the filter that’s right for your household.
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