Are your apartment, condo or co-op residents lead – compromised via the water pipes leading to your building or inside your building? Lead is a toxic metal that is especially dangerous for children and pregnant women, and while drinking a single glass of water contaminated with lead particles above the EPA’s recommended standards of 1.3ppm won’t cause any permanent health problems, chronic exposure can result in some serious, life-long, health consequences.
What Are the Health Consequences of Lead Poisoning?
According to Healthline, the symptoms of lead poisoning include abdominal pain and cramps, weight loss and/or loss of appetite, high blood pressure, peripheral neuropathy and kidney problems. When children are exposed to excessive levels of lead, they can experience developmental delays, learning problems, low IQ and behavioral problems.
The good news is that lead poisoning can be treated once it is diagnosed. However, if any internal damage was caused to the brain, organs or nervous system, those injuries are very likely to be permanent.
How Serious is the Lead Problem?
According to an article by the Huffington Post, the next lead water crisis could happen anywhere within the United States. To determine the seriousness of lead-compromised water pipes, you can look at the ongoing crisis in Flint, Michigan, or you can look closer to home. Residents of a public housing complex in East Chicago, Indiana are being forced from their homes due to lead contamination in the ground. The EPA tested the soil and found the top six inches to be contaminated with lead. How the lead got into the soil is not readily explained, but contamination is so serious, that the homes will be destroyed after all the residents have left.
How Can You Protect Your Residents Against Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water?
The first thing you should do is have your water tested for lead. The City of Chicago Department of Water Management provides free water testing kits by calling 311. If your water does test high for lead contamination, you need to determine the source. The lead could be coming from the municipal water supply or lead contaminated water pipes on your property or in your building.
Lead Contamination in the Municipal Water Supply
If the lead is coming from your municipal water supply, you need to alert your local officials and the water treatment plant so that they can take the appropriate steps to eliminate the risk and restore the safety of the city’s drinking water.
Lead Contamination in Your Pipes 
If the lead is coming from the pipes on your property or inside your building, you need to take immediate action to either a) replace all the metal pipes that contain lead/contain corrostion or b) line all the potable water pipes on your property or in your building.
While you determine which action to take to correct the lead contamination in your residents drinking water, you need to alert your residents and provide them with water safety instructions. The CDC recommends only cooking and drinking with water from the cold taps after the taps have been ran for at least 2 minutes.
Pipe Lining with Nu Flow
Lining your pipes with our epoxy pipe lining services can stop lead contamination. Lead contamination in drinking water typically only occurs when the water comes in contact with corroded lead and copper pipes or lead solder. Lining your pipes prevents your drinking water from coming into contact with the metal in the pipe, which eliminates the contamination.
To learn more about how to protect your residents from lead-contaminated drinking water and to request an estimate for pipe lining services, call us at 815-790-9000.