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Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint

nytimes.com

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Re: Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint

#141

Post by thescriptkiddie »

Laforet wrote: post #64
thescriptkiddie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but you really don't want to be drinking true deionized water. It isn't a about long term mineral loss, it is about the immediate discomfort of drinking it. It's fine for the first cup or two, but after that it starts to burn. Wash your hands with it and you'll find you skin is dry and cracking. You'll notice that reverse osmosis systems intended for producing drinking water have a much lower standard of purit…

>It's fine for the first cup or two, but after that it starts to burn. Wash your hands with it and you'll find you skin is dry and cracking. I have handled and, against my better judgement, quaffed many types of deionised water: triple glass distilled, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, etc. They taste more or less the same to store-bought distilled water and I have not yet had any of the ailments in your complaint. Ther…

For what it's worth, I could be mistaken. The storebought deionized water I get could be contaminated with carbonic acid, which would explain the burning.

Re: Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint

#142

Post by alanwatts »

gozur88 wrote: post #137
alanwatts wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why did they choose to use lead pipes?

Because it's cheap, easy to work with, and tends to deform under stress instead of breaking. These were old pipes - they pre-date this problem by decades.

Did they know that they were lead pipes before they decided to start using them?

Re: Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint

#143

Post by DanBC »

alanwatts wrote: post #142
gozur88 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's cheap, easy to work with, and tends to deform under stress instead of breaking. These were old pipes - they pre-date this problem by decades.

Did they know that they were lead pipes before they decided to start using them?

Water companies should be measuring the quality of the water going into the pipes, but they also need to sample the water that comes out of the pipes - they need to collect samples coming out of people's faucets.

Re: Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint

#144

Post by Laforet »

thescriptkiddie wrote: post #141
Laforet wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's fine for the first cup or two, but after that it starts to burn. Wash your hands with it and you'll find you skin is dry and cracking. I have handled and, against my better judgement, quaffed many types of deionised water: triple glass distilled, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, etc. They taste more or less the same to store-bought distilled water and I have not yet had any of the ailments in your complaint. Ther…

For what it's worth, I could be mistaken. The storebought deionized water I get could be contaminated with carbonic acid, which would explain the burning.

Distilled water tends to exhibit an acidic because there are nk dissolved salts to buffer against atomspheric carbon dioxide which forms carbonic acid once dissolved. However I would be very surprised if store bought water contains enough CO2 to irritate human skin, unless you meant carbolic acid instead of carbonic acid.

Re: Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint

#145

Post by alanwatts »

DanBC wrote: post #143
alanwatts wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they know that they were lead pipes before they decided to start using them?

Water companies should be measuring the quality of the water going into the pipes, but they also need to sample the water that comes out of the pipes - they need to collect samples coming out of people's faucets.

Sad that such an obvious thing needs to be stated.

Re: Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint

#146

Post by gozur88 »

alanwatts wrote: post #142
gozur88 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's cheap, easy to work with, and tends to deform under stress instead of breaking. These were old pipes - they pre-date this problem by decades.

Did they know that they were lead pipes before they decided to start using them?

Using them for what? These are not new pipes. They've been using these pipes for decades.
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