| Have your water tested for lead. Even if | | | | one or two minutes if it has been in the pipes more |
| Environmental Protection Agency information lists | | | | than a few hours will help. Also, use only cold water |
| your city as having water with low lead, you should | | | | for drinking and cooking - that is, start with cold |
| have the water from your taps tested, particularly if | | | | water and heat it up. If the purged-line sample shows |
| you live in an older house. Lead pipe was used until | | | | more than 5ppb of lead, it probably is coming from |
| the late 1970s for service lines carrying water from | | | | the service line. Get your utility company to inspect |
| street mains into houses, and lead pipes for houses | | | | the line. |
| and lead-based solder were not outlawed until 1988. | | | | Brass components on new faucets can lease lead |
| If you live in an area where water is 'soft' (that is, | | | | into your water. Let the water run a little while (a |
| with low concentration of dissolved minerals), mineral | | | | few seconds) before you drink it. Boiling drinking |
| deposits may not have coated the inside of your | | | | water kills harmful bacteria, but it may increase |
| lead pipes, making it more likely that the pipes will | | | | concentration of heavy metal and toxic chemicals like |
| leach lead into your water. Lead also tends to be | | | | lead and asbestos. |
| more concentrated in water that is (1) acidic, (2) has | | | | If your tap water contains lead, use bottled water |
| been sitting in the pipes for a long time, (3) is hot. | | | | for cooking and drinking or buy a good home |
| Some cities offer free water testing for lead. Or ask | | | | water-treatment device to remove lead and other |
| your utility company, local health department, or | | | | contaminants. Make sure it is approved by the |
| state department of environmental quality for a list | | | | National Sanitation Foundation, though lack of |
| of EPA-certified laboratories. Or you can check online. | | | | certification does not necessarily mean that the |
| You should test first-draw and purged-line water. If | | | | device is ineffective. |
| the water has more than 5pbb on first-draw and | | | | If you use infant drinking formula, make it with |
| much less on the purged-line sample, the problem | | | | bottled water. And remember that you cannot see |
| comes from within the house. Letting the water run | | | | the lead in drinking water because it is dissolved. |