lead in brooklyn water

Hi, we have Brownstone in Brooklyn and I checked for the lead in water with the city supplied kit. I got water in 5Am after it was sitting in pipes for several hours. And result came back with lead exceeding norm from the sample I took right after opening facet and well below norm after I let water to run for some time. This is a bit unexpected – the first sample had water which came from the pipes in the house (pretty new copper pipes). And the second sample came from the water which was sitting in old city pipes (I guess lead) from the street. Does it mean that old lead pipes in the city leak less lead into the water then new copper pipes inside of the house? The copper pipes are a few years old so I cannot believe that some solder is still leaking lead. Anyway, I follow the city’s advice and let water run for a minute before taking it for drinking or cooking. I also try to clean faucet strainers from any cediment in case if there are a pieves of lead from the city piping. I heard that any filters actually would make meter worst since any of the lead sediment would be stuck in the filter and leak into the water constantly. Any other suggestions on dealing with the situation?

bobjohn

in Plumbing 10 years and 7 months ago

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dorkofwindsor | 10 years and 7 months ago

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yeah, it might just be the main. And, then there’s this- https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-public/lead-free-faucets-are-anything

no-permits | 10 years and 7 months ago

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your lead main is the source of the lead. i don’t know what your “theory” will prove besides maybe it’s time to change your main.

bobjohn | 10 years and 7 months ago

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sorry for the late reply. Done some research: – does not look to be lead solder – pretty new faucets. – the main is lead. – the second floor toilet flushes once in a while. possibly flushed before i took the sample and moved water from the main closer to the faucet. will confirm theory by taking another sample right at the entry point to the house and separately from the faucet.

thetinkerswagon | 10 years and 7 months ago

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you know, I just looked at the other’s posts. it is sad, but they are right, someone might have had lead solder on hand and used it. I had always been in the habit of running my tap water until the temp changed to get the fresh water in. someone from the NYC health dept, a friend, said to run it a full 30 seconds more. that is because a lot of city mains are still lead by the road. I have seen some lead ones still in use. Steve

thetinkerswagon | 10 years and 7 months ago

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they should not even have used lead based solder for the pipes inside the house. not sure when that became code. sorry I cannot help with any of the other details. Steve

dorkofwindsor | 10 years and 7 months ago

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good point dave. lead solder is still available so it wouldn’t surprise me if some old timer hacks would be using it as it is much easier to use. but if it was a legit master plumber and a filed job i *highly* doubt it would be leaded. which would bring be back to square one – could it be an old faucet that contains lead fittings or solder – or did someone flush and rinse in the middle of the night? need more data at this point.

daveinbedstuy | 10 years and 7 months ago

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If the work was done anytime in the last 20+ years, it is highly unlikely that the solder contains lead http://www.copper.org/environment/water/e_p_lead.html

dorkofwindsor | 10 years and 7 months ago

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the city water is running constantly at 5am and not stagnant – there are plenty of people up showering and flushing the toilet at 4am etc. regardless – – with lead in your copper pipes at 5am, and 100% certainty that no one got up and flushed the toilet in the middle of night, or there are no slow drips at any faucets, then it prob leached from the copper fittings. if your service line were constantly leaching a lot of lead into your house at all times, then it would have shown up on the second test as well. so absent that it seems like can only be the lead fittings – that i can think of.

BobMarvin | 10 years and 7 months ago

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Those coatings also make the lead main fairly safe. I only replaced mine after it started leaking in the street and the City shut it off. A year or so later the City replaced the municipal lead main on my block with copper. At that point I also replaced the last remaining lead pipes in my cellar.

daveinbedstuy | 10 years and 7 months ago

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It is most likely that your house’s main supply is still lead. Look at it where it comes into the house and meets the meter. If it does not look like new copper, then it is likely lead. Oftentimes the lead pipe is bent at an angle coming into the meter. Copper and galvanized pipe don’t bend. This is surprising though because most old lead lines develop a deposit of minerals, mostly iron, that coat the interior of the pipe, sometimes to the point os restricting the flow.

no-permits | 10 years and 7 months ago

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do you have all new copper? what about your main? a lot of buildings can have new copper but old lead mains.

BobMarvin | 10 years and 7 months ago

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    string(10) "Bob Marvin"
    ["spam"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["deleted"]=>
    string(1) "0"
  }
  ["ID"]=>
  int(802)
  ["caps"]=>
  array(3) {
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["SPF Manage Forums"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["cap_key"]=>
  string(15) "wp_capabilities"
  ["roles"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(10) "subscriber"
    [1]=>
    string(15) "bbp_participant"
  }
  ["allcaps"]=>
  array(5) {
    ["read"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["level_0"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["SPF Manage Forums"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

Do you KNOW that the City mains are lead? The old lead main on my block was replaced with copper in the late ’90s.