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TIL why you're not supposed to cook or drink hot tap water - it's the lead (and other heavy metals) (www.epa.gov)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/til@lemmy.ca
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Hot water dissolves lead more quickly than cold water and is therefore more likely to contain greater amounts of lead. Never use water from the hot water tap for drinking, cooking, or making baby formula.

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[–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Well, it's not been legal in the UK since 1970 to sell or install lead plumbing.

And the official Department of Water Inspectors (https://dwi.gov.uk/) reported only 50 cases of lead pipes in last year's inspection

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    The use of lead solder and brass fittings has only been illegal in the uk since 1999, and these are still legal to use in central heating systems. This leads to people having access to these fittings and products, and them being used illegally.

    "WaterSafe Warning after Kitchen Fitter Fined for Illegal Use of Lead Solder on Water Pipes" https://www.watersafe.org.uk/news/latest_news/watersafe_warning_af/

    Unfortunately this problem is sort of universal and I imagine if I google other countries I will find similar.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    To be fair, lead solder is far far far less risky than last piping

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    That is a straw man argument, but I'll indulge again.

    No amount of lead is safe, and a random sampling of newly built houses testing water from the cold kitchen tap as well as hot and cold from the bathrooms found lead above the current regulatory limit, and 5 times higher than the proposed new regulatory limit.

    https://leappalliance.org.uk/litw-blog-15/

    https://www.ifeh.org/docs/scientificreports/scottish_new_homes_lead_survey_%20summary.pdf

    One study has shown a clear response in infants where blood lead levels increased by 1µg/dL with drinking water that exceeded 5 µg/L. This is already worrying since it is now believed that blood lead levels as low as 1-2µg/dL result in negative health effects associated with fertility, neurological, cardiovascular, and renal disorders.

    https://thewaterprofessor.com/blogs/articles/drinking-water-lead-and-iq

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