Lead pipe for potable drinking water Unsafe on Residential homes

Описание: Homes built prior to the 1930’s in older cities throughout the United States such as Grand Rapids Michigan, have lead pipe for city potable drinking water.
A lead service line (LSL, also known as lead service pipe, and lead connection pipe) is a pipe made of lead which is used in potable water distribution to connect a water main to a user's premise. Lead exposure is a public health hazard as it causes developmental effects in fetuses, infants, and young children.
Most home owners don’t know that replacing the lead pipe from the street to the home is the home owner’s responsibility for all the cost and not the cities. It can range anywhere from $2000-$5000 depending on the distance from the street to the house.
Some zips codes of residential homes with lead city pipes in Grand Rapids Michigan include… 49503, 49504 and 49507 which includes much of SE Grand Rapids.
WHAT TO DO…
Grand Rapids Michigan water system information to home owners; If present, elevated levels of lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children. Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing. The Grand Rapids Water system is responsible for providing high quality drinking water, but cannot control the variety of materials used plumbing components. Water that has been sitting for several hours has the potential to pick up these contaminants. In order to minimize the potential exposure you can flush the tap 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using water for drinking or cooking. If you are concerned about lead in your water, you may wish to have your water tested. Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1(800)426-4791 or their website at epa.gov/safewater/lead. The City of Grand Rapids implemented a corrosion control program in 1994 to reduce the amount of lead possibly leaching from household plumbing and is monitored following EPA guidelines. Prior to the corrosion control program, 37% of the homes tested had lead levels above EPA’s lead limit. Since the implementation of this program the lead levels have been significantly reduced, and in our most recent round of testing, none of the 50 homes tested had lead level limit above the action level.
UPDATE in 2016…
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services shows about 6 percent of Ken County children 6 years old and younger… 611 of the 9,784 tested… had blood tests registering 5 or more micrograms of lead per deciliter, a level above which health officials consider elevated. Only five counties and one city in Michigan… Detroit… saw 5 present or more of its children tested exhibit elevated lead levels.
Unlike Flint, Michigan, where the water supply was to blame for the increased lead exposure, Kent country’s problem is primarily tied to the lead paint found in many older homes. Four out of the five homes in Grand Rapids, Michigan and almost three out of five countywide were built before 1978, the year lead was banned in paint.

©2020 Home inspection by John Frejeris "Watch & Learn" ™