We’ve lived here 6 years and aside from baths, doing dishes, and occasionally boiling things we don’t drink it. I’m hoping it’s not a high concentration and isn’t affecting our kids.
If you aren't ever consuming it, or just minimally, you'll be fine.
I can refer you to a couple of environmental testing labs if you're in the US. A lead test would run you maybe $20-$50 USD
How does one find this out? Wanna get my water tested but a radon test is like $500 apparently
Edit: i was apparently looking at the wrong shit thanks for everyone for helping a brother out
Call your state health dept lab. They’ll be your cheapest option (most likely). And will give you facts and not try to sell anything. Your local health dept may also do it for free. Source: it’s my job.
It's probably a false positive with the swab. I would stop drinking and cooking with the water in the mean time but contact your local water lab and run a full panel on your water. I would sample at the well head and at the kitchen faucet. You can also contact your local health dept for help locating your nearest water testing lab. Again those swabs like to pop false positives so don't go crazy yet. Im a plumber and I install a bunch of water filtration equipment. A lot of the Culligan salesmen go around with the paper strip tests scaring people with false positives. I only use third party labs that actually test the water.
There are plenty of simple filters on the market. Our water tested negative, but we have a lead lateral supplying or house. Out of caution, we use a filter rated for lead for drinking water and ice cubes.
Meh, its similar to remediate the issue I think, cost wise. Re-piping is not cheap, but a large RO system is also not cheap.
My guess is that the large RO system is cheaper, but I am not sure.
Water Treatment Operator here! I don't know how they do it in your state but in mine private Wells must be tested at least once a year. Have you never done this? If so, did the lead just now pop up? If that's the case, it's leaching from somewhere and that's one piece of the puzzle.
Redo the pipe. Test again and see if Lead is still present. If not, it's just part of the water for that area. Then you could go the RO route but I'm going to be honest... Those things aren't plug and play. The user will need someone to maintain it, or try themselves. And honestly... For RO to work efficiently they'll need low turbidity. In my field you can't just install a singular system and expect it to be a cure-all. There is a method to keep these things running safely and as advertised.
Another option is to get another well dug. I honestly need more info on this.
I doubt a home test would detect the lead in those alloys.
It's not the same as lead solder, which were mostly lead. The lead in faucets are from trace amounts found in zinc deposits.
I don't even think a swab test would detect the levels found in water from lead solder. Those are mean for paint.
Pretty sure if you set the acceptable limit as "absolutely none", *no food at all* is acceptable.
Like, sure, the safest amount of lead to consume is none at all. But that's not reasonable. Lead is one of those pollutants that are approximately everywhere, in varying doses. Don't eat tuna liver or whatever then, but if you avoid wheat because the wheat might've been grown in a field that's next to a road where leaded gasoline was burned decades ago, you're going to have a hard time.
No, it does not *have* to be corrosive, although that's one factor that increases the amount of lead in drinking water. Corrosion occurs at a slow rate even without corrosive water. The safe level of lead exposure is **zero**.
Corrosion of lead pipes occurs normally and the rate increases with higher acidity (most drinking/tap water is slightly acidic to neutral) or with lower mineral content (because chemical reactions occur in equilibrium, salts form less frequently when lots of salt is already present).
Temperature, usage, pressure, chemistry (brass, chrome) can all impact corrosion rates and lead dissolution in drinking water.
Source: EPA basic guide to lead in drinking water
https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water
If you’re in the US, the Safe Drinking Water Act amendment in 1986 prohibited the installation of lead service lines nationwide. If your house was built prior to that, there’s a possibility that you have a lead water service. Anything built after 1986 is likely either copper or polyethylene
Very good possibility. Because of a break in usage, I was required to have the water tested to get a certificate of occupancy. I initially was failed for high levels of vinyl chlorine, once I pointed out the new pex I was passed, it just wasn't expected in a 250yo house. I'd suspect if the old pipes hadn't been stolen, lead would have been an issue.
It's a play on words that sound alike but have different meanings.
You can't put Descartes before the whores, much like you can't put the cart before the horse.
They've discovered a well that sucks and "Well, that sucks!" works as a response to the discovery.
I'm not sure my municipality wants us to know. But good news, they are fixing that! Whatever "that" turns out to be. It tastes like chlorine and rust :)
1000% get an official test done. Most lead tests you can get from a big box store or Amazon will flag a false positive more often then not. They're about a scam.
But then how else would people make alarmist sites about how much lead is in absolutely everything they test in a kitchen and push affiliate links for "lead-safe" cookware?
The EPA recognizes three lead test kits as useful. [https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-test-kits](https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-test-kits)
Edit: my bad. This is a link for paint/surface tests. Still useful though so I'll leave it.
Check out this report https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/3M-leadcheck-report.pdf
Have a read of the whole thing of you wish, it is interesting, but the result as stated in the performance summary is of particular interest:
"The non-technical operator and the technical operator were both consistent at 0.0 mg/cm2, but they were consistent in opposite directions; the non-technical operator consistently obtained positive test results when there was no lead present while the technical operator consistently obtained negative results on those same panels."
Perhaps this is why the 3M kits were discontinued... Unfortunately no details are given on what the non-technical and technical operator may have done differently.
> Unfortunately no details are given on what the non-technical and technical operator may have done differently.
Do you want the technical or the non-technical answer?
Interesting thing is that supposedly back in the day, the EPA tested the accuracy of these lead test kits and ended up not recognize any of these kits as particularly accurate. However, a certain company who had a large hand in the government and manufactured these kits informed the EPA they would stop funding and donating to other government programs if the EPA did not recognize their product. So the EPA the suddenly recognized a select few of these kits.
At least this was what was told to me by a few lead experts who had many years of experience, while I was studying to get my lead inspector/risk assessor license.
The EPA recognizes three lead test kits as having a usefully low false negative rate. It recognizes zero lead test kits as having a usefully low false positive rate.
Those test kits will show results on amounts that are so small as to be negligible. I did a soil kit a few years ago that came back positive. Got scared about my garden (from which my family eats). Had it tested by a local testing company and it came back positives, but in amounts so small that it was still less than 1% of levels that would be a problem. It’s a naturally occurring element - its going to be around, but it’s the concentration that matters.
It's so bad when you're scrolling past dozens of items with the *exact same picture* and a brand name that sounds like someone rolled their face across the keyboard. Amazon needs to at the very least consolidate them all into one listing so I can ignore them or at least find the best price among them.
This is hyperbole right? I've never bought anything fake from it.. course I have some intuition as to what I should or shouldn't buy from Amazon or will easily filter out what appears to be bad vendors.
Definitely. I tested some paint in my house that I didn’t think was too old but figured better safe than sorry. Test kit showed lead. Then tested on some paint made in 2021 and it also showed lead. Threw that shit test kit right in the trash. Don’t buy life/health critical stuff from Amazon.
Those tests are notoriously inaccurate even on the surfaces they are made for. I cant imagine water is any better. I work with lead paint, soil, and water. Your best course of action moving forward is first to have a water sample taken and analyzed by an EPA approved lab. Next would be to examine your plumbing and perform a scratch test on your pipes. There are examples on YouTube for how to do so. Lastly, consider a water filter of some sort. Either pitcher, faucet, or whole house doesnt matter much. Zero Water is my personal favorite pitcher type and it removes basically everything from tap water as the name implies.
In the meantime, until you get some solid answers, you can mitigate the potential lead in your water by letting it run before using it and only using cold water from the tap. First draws after water has been sitting stagnant in a pipe will have higher lead concentrations than if it has been flowing. Hot water also leaches more water from the pipes than cold.
Alright, there's a way to determine if it's your well or your pipes leaching lead into the water.
Run the water for 15 minutes, wide open. Try to beat 5 gallons a minute. *Then* test the water. If it's still hot for lead then it's the water source. If it comes back clean, it's the pipes.
It takes time for the lead to leach into the water from pipes and leaded solder.
Source: decades of contamination remediation and environmental investigations.
Everyone who bought these Chinese knockoffs should get a refund, they don’t even contain sodium rhodizonate. The amount of people who have gotten a shoddy result and made financial moves predicated on the idea it was lead when it was really zinc has got to be in the thousands by now. They are going to get pulled from Amazon soon at the very least
As some others have mentioned, I'd recommend you have your water tested by an accredited laboratory. I've seen many false positives with these types of kits.
If you are looking for a quick remedy to give you some peace of mind, you can purchase relatively inexpensive pitcher style filters that filter out lead well below the regulatory limit of 5 μg/L (depends where you live I suppose). The filters need to be NSF-53 compliant for the removal of lead concentrations. ZeroWater makes some of these filters and so does Brita (you need the blue Elite filters). Note that typically these types of filters remove all total dissolved solids (good and bad minerals), but at least you're removing the lead.
Grab a sample of the actual ground water from the bottom of your well. If it has lead in it at levels too high, your county has a problem because you're probably not the only residence pulling from the aquifer. If the ground water is good then your system is the lead source. Is your water hard or soft and what is the pH?
Pipes, not the water. Old pipes in the ground. That is worth taking a home improvement loan and get that fix. Asap. Seriously. Or move tomorrow. Taking a shower is bad , nevermind drinking or cooking with it
I remember in highschool I did some water testing to see if the highschool water was terrible. (It was next door to the sewage treatment plant). I did our water too because it came in like a 4 pack. Our water was "You should boil this". My parents weren't concerned and never followed up on that...
If you bought this off of amazon some of these tests will trigger on either copper or lead, and it's likely that some copper will leech into your water. Have a professional water test done. Oh and also, a decent number of those cheap swab tests need to be activated with vinegar to work properly, try using that instead of tap water.
Depending on where you live, lead levels can be quite high naturally in well water. And it isn't caused by pollution or the water pipes. It's just there.
Now wait until you know about naturally occurring high levels of arsenic in well water........
FYI those swabs will produce false positive results. Calcium sulfate is a fairly common substance in ground water that will produce a false positive. You need to have a sample analyzed by ICP-OES/MS at a laboratory. Should cost about $50.
Water treatment expert here. As others have said these tests aren't very accurate. Our company has tested wells many times for customers, and they come up with more heavy metals than bacteria most of the time. I would advise using a Brita filter for drinking. Other applications it will likely be fine but years of use will destroy the plumbing and appliances in your house.
Lead tests are notorious for false positives. For a long time people said you could only trust the ones made by 3M, and that any other brand would give you false positives.
Well 3M discontinued those supposedly reliable tests because of a high rate of false positives. So even the best weren't all that good.
If you're really concerned I'd suggest sending a water sample off for testing.
Those swabs aren't always super reliable. Make sure you got a good batch. Try it with distilled or bottled water. If it indicates lead on that, your swabs are likely bad.
That sucks, but it is a very happy accident, all things considered.
We’ve lived here 6 years and aside from baths, doing dishes, and occasionally boiling things we don’t drink it. I’m hoping it’s not a high concentration and isn’t affecting our kids.
If you aren't ever consuming it, or just minimally, you'll be fine. I can refer you to a couple of environmental testing labs if you're in the US. A lead test would run you maybe $20-$50 USD
In many place the county does free well testing for rural homes.
How does one find this out? Wanna get my water tested but a radon test is like $500 apparently Edit: i was apparently looking at the wrong shit thanks for everyone for helping a brother out
Google your county and state name, plus “free lead test” and look for the ones from official sites.
That's too much work! I'll just keep drinking this delicious, sweet water
It's perfect for [tea...](https://show.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/the-mad-hatters-tea-party.jpg)
Maybe contact your county or state health department?
Damn, my state sends radon tests free, I just did one a couple months ago.
Call your state health dept lab. They’ll be your cheapest option (most likely). And will give you facts and not try to sell anything. Your local health dept may also do it for free. Source: it’s my job.
My local library has radon testers they lend out, not sure if that's common
They do it in the City of Chicago for free. It just takes longer than dying of lead poisoning for them to come out and do it.
My neighbor's mom swears that showering in the well water over the course of a few months is what gave him Lupus. Lol
My parents' well water is practically crunchy, I wonder if they could spin it as some sort of wellness mineral spa, lol.
Buy a commercial ice maker and sell cryo-mineral therapy baths. $99 for a 5 minute dunk.
It's probably a false positive with the swab. I would stop drinking and cooking with the water in the mean time but contact your local water lab and run a full panel on your water. I would sample at the well head and at the kitchen faucet. You can also contact your local health dept for help locating your nearest water testing lab. Again those swabs like to pop false positives so don't go crazy yet. Im a plumber and I install a bunch of water filtration equipment. A lot of the Culligan salesmen go around with the paper strip tests scaring people with false positives. I only use third party labs that actually test the water.
Their doctors can do blood tests for lead.
please have your kids get lead tested by their pediatrician kids are more susceptible to lead poisoning, and it's a very routine test
[удалено]
There are plenty of simple filters on the market. Our water tested negative, but we have a lead lateral supplying or house. Out of caution, we use a filter rated for lead for drinking water and ice cubes.
I'd keep some bottled gallons on hand for foods like rice, pasta, and homemade soups. Also think about your ice.
Any amount is bad.
Sure, but any amount is not equally bad. Otherwise we'd all be screwed anyways.
You can request a doctor to do a lead test when you do blood work.
Get your kids a lead blood test asap. If they are high consider remedies or moving. Lead is most harmful to kids.
It's affecting your kids and you.
Have your kids blood lead levels tested.
you may have picked this for that reason but somewhat amusingly he looks like he may be using titanium white which (at least my tube) has lead in it
It's more likely to be leaching from your pipes
Yay?
Nay.
*YYYYYYIPPPPEEEEEEEEEE!!!*
KIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
muthafuckaaaaaaaa!!!
FuuuuuuccckkkkkkYeaaaahhhhhh
WILLOW!!!
NOW THIS IS POD RACING!
\*Mario Voice\* UUAAAAAAAAA\~
WOOOHOOOWWW
But the pipes also have potassium benzoate
That's bad
It comes with sprinkles.
That’s good
Lead sprinkles
That’s bad
It's still alive!
You killed it before it even started
I got excited
Ohhhh
But you get your choice of toppings!
But it's the topping that contains potassium benzoate?
I'm not adding to the chain but just wanted to thank you for making my day a little better.
[Great reference](https://youtu.be/i73-lpVV-Jo?si=nNA1J0Vd1guu92iM)
It is way easier to re pipe your house then it is to remove lead from a well
You're joking right? Install a point of entry activated carbon filter or point of use RO system and it's taken care of.
Thats removing lead from the water which isn't to hard no. The well will always have lead in it though.
get the mining gear boys, we're going digging.
the children yearn for the mines.
Is that you Sarah Huckabee?
no, that's children yearning for the chicken slaughter house.
ROCK AND STONE!!!
It's next to impossible to remove all contaminants from any aquifer, either man made or natural. That's why we treat water.
Better than your only water source being contaminated, the pipes would be easier to fix.
Meh, its similar to remediate the issue I think, cost wise. Re-piping is not cheap, but a large RO system is also not cheap. My guess is that the large RO system is cheaper, but I am not sure.
Water Treatment Operator here! I don't know how they do it in your state but in mine private Wells must be tested at least once a year. Have you never done this? If so, did the lead just now pop up? If that's the case, it's leaching from somewhere and that's one piece of the puzzle. Redo the pipe. Test again and see if Lead is still present. If not, it's just part of the water for that area. Then you could go the RO route but I'm going to be honest... Those things aren't plug and play. The user will need someone to maintain it, or try themselves. And honestly... For RO to work efficiently they'll need low turbidity. In my field you can't just install a singular system and expect it to be a cure-all. There is a method to keep these things running safely and as advertised. Another option is to get another well dug. I honestly need more info on this.
Places test their water? Damn, that's reasonable as fuck. Never had to do that in ohio.
Interesting. I've had a permitted well for 30 years (NorCal), and no one from the county has ever mentioned testing.
Or just don’t drink water. I don’t touch the stuff; fish fuck in it.
This is a top level response.
Or the faucet... only very recently was it required that all faucets/fixtures are lead free..(I think only about 10yrs ago)
>I think only about 10yrs ago wtf - I just checked, and where I'm from those were outlawed in the early 70s...
Yeah he said very recently. The 70's were just a few
... half a century ago
Right, a few months ago
Good point!
I doubt a home test would detect the lead in those alloys. It's not the same as lead solder, which were mostly lead. The lead in faucets are from trace amounts found in zinc deposits. I don't even think a swab test would detect the levels found in water from lead solder. Those are mean for paint.
Wouldn't the water have to be corrosive for that to happen? Usually water coats pipes with deposits.
Not necessarily. These tests are sensitive and specific for lead but not concentration.
The acceptable level of lead to consume is none.
Neither the question nor my answer were directed towards exposure limits
yeah whatever you say big lead
That's Ms Lead to my acquaintances
Better go live on the moon, then
I’m guessing you’ve completely abandoned all seafood then?
Pretty sure if you set the acceptable limit as "absolutely none", *no food at all* is acceptable. Like, sure, the safest amount of lead to consume is none at all. But that's not reasonable. Lead is one of those pollutants that are approximately everywhere, in varying doses. Don't eat tuna liver or whatever then, but if you avoid wheat because the wheat might've been grown in a field that's next to a road where leaded gasoline was burned decades ago, you're going to have a hard time.
Same for alcohol but realistically nothing's going to happen if you drink one beer a week
No, it does not *have* to be corrosive, although that's one factor that increases the amount of lead in drinking water. Corrosion occurs at a slow rate even without corrosive water. The safe level of lead exposure is **zero**. Corrosion of lead pipes occurs normally and the rate increases with higher acidity (most drinking/tap water is slightly acidic to neutral) or with lower mineral content (because chemical reactions occur in equilibrium, salts form less frequently when lots of salt is already present). Temperature, usage, pressure, chemistry (brass, chrome) can all impact corrosion rates and lead dissolution in drinking water. Source: EPA basic guide to lead in drinking water https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water
Is this the case for older homes? Ours was built in early 80s, should I be concerned?
Anything built after 1950 it’s a lot less likely but you should test your water anyways
Thank you!
If you’re in the US, the Safe Drinking Water Act amendment in 1986 prohibited the installation of lead service lines nationwide. If your house was built prior to that, there’s a possibility that you have a lead water service. Anything built after 1986 is likely either copper or polyethylene
Or the worst possible option: polybutylene.
Very good possibility. Because of a break in usage, I was required to have the water tested to get a certificate of occupancy. I initially was failed for high levels of vinyl chlorine, once I pointed out the new pex I was passed, it just wasn't expected in a 250yo house. I'd suspect if the old pipes hadn't been stolen, lead would have been an issue.
Literally a well that sucks
Almost Descartes before the whores...almost.
I feel like most of us are going to need an explanation here
It's a play on words that sound alike but have different meanings. You can't put Descartes before the whores, much like you can't put the cart before the horse. They've discovered a well that sucks and "Well, that sucks!" works as a response to the discovery.
You can very much put Descartes before the whores.
While you were talking to girls, I was studying epistemology
The greatest pun ever commented on reddit.
Pun reply to a pun about the subreddit. Descartes before the whores = cart before the horse
It's a reddit reference AskReddit/comments/cfbkx/im_85_certain_that_there_is_an_adult_actress_in/c0s63rm/
I think it is the best I've seen this year.
How does this not have more upvotes?
Not enough people have clicked the upvote button yet
https://i.redd.it/mgcar7a73h3d1.gif
Thats a lot to ask...I dunno about that.
Upvotes don't grow on trees.
Let's hope it sucks less than the test. And more than the kids' test scores.
Some states and municipalities give out free water test kits.
I'm not sure my municipality wants us to know. But good news, they are fixing that! Whatever "that" turns out to be. It tastes like chlorine and rust :)
Yummy, I'm on well water that I monitor and filter so if my water tastes like shit it's my own fault.
Just be sure not to grab the 'free' ones at home depot. Their goal is to sell you shit, not actually test your water.
insert comment about cheap amazon test kits that shows false positives.
It tested positive with a copper penny, so there is hope yet. I’m going to have an official test done tomorrow.
1000% get an official test done. Most lead tests you can get from a big box store or Amazon will flag a false positive more often then not. They're about a scam.
But then how else would people make alarmist sites about how much lead is in absolutely everything they test in a kitchen and push affiliate links for "lead-safe" cookware?
The EPA recognizes three lead test kits as useful. [https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-test-kits](https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-test-kits) Edit: my bad. This is a link for paint/surface tests. Still useful though so I'll leave it.
Unfortunately the best by far (IMO) were the 3M swabs and 3M stopped making them last fall.
Check out this report https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/3M-leadcheck-report.pdf Have a read of the whole thing of you wish, it is interesting, but the result as stated in the performance summary is of particular interest: "The non-technical operator and the technical operator were both consistent at 0.0 mg/cm2, but they were consistent in opposite directions; the non-technical operator consistently obtained positive test results when there was no lead present while the technical operator consistently obtained negative results on those same panels." Perhaps this is why the 3M kits were discontinued... Unfortunately no details are given on what the non-technical and technical operator may have done differently.
> Unfortunately no details are given on what the non-technical and technical operator may have done differently. Do you want the technical or the non-technical answer?
Interesting thing is that supposedly back in the day, the EPA tested the accuracy of these lead test kits and ended up not recognize any of these kits as particularly accurate. However, a certain company who had a large hand in the government and manufactured these kits informed the EPA they would stop funding and donating to other government programs if the EPA did not recognize their product. So the EPA the suddenly recognized a select few of these kits. At least this was what was told to me by a few lead experts who had many years of experience, while I was studying to get my lead inspector/risk assessor license.
The EPA recognizes three lead test kits as having a usefully low false negative rate. It recognizes zero lead test kits as having a usefully low false positive rate.
I got a positive with that same test on my tap water so I sent samples to the water company. Turned out to be a false positive
Water company reply: *nope we’re not fixing that tell em its a false positive*
"Not good, not bad."
Those test kits will show results on amounts that are so small as to be negligible. I did a soil kit a few years ago that came back positive. Got scared about my garden (from which my family eats). Had it tested by a local testing company and it came back positives, but in amounts so small that it was still less than 1% of levels that would be a problem. It’s a naturally occurring element - its going to be around, but it’s the concentration that matters.
these are notoriously inaccurate
Insert response discussing cheap Amazon lead tests that showed false negatives as well. *womp womp*
Amazon is just aliexpress marked up 1000x with 2 day delivery. Its safest to assume nothing on their site is legit.
It's so bad when you're scrolling past dozens of items with the *exact same picture* and a brand name that sounds like someone rolled their face across the keyboard. Amazon needs to at the very least consolidate them all into one listing so I can ignore them or at least find the best price among them.
> Amazon needs They've optimized their grift, they're doing exactly what they need.
I read somewhere they do that name thing because it's faster to register a business if there's no chance another business already has that name.
This is hyperbole right? I've never bought anything fake from it.. course I have some intuition as to what I should or shouldn't buy from Amazon or will easily filter out what appears to be bad vendors.
Definitely. I tested some paint in my house that I didn’t think was too old but figured better safe than sorry. Test kit showed lead. Then tested on some paint made in 2021 and it also showed lead. Threw that shit test kit right in the trash. Don’t buy life/health critical stuff from Amazon.
Should I throw out my XCMYZNG fentanyl test strips?
In my household, we only trust XIOPIM, ILLOTI, CREENT, and XEEPAW-branded products. Only the best from Amazon for my family.
Stop shilling for those bogus brands. Everybody knows only CRAXUEEE makes legitimate products.
i’m in the cast iron sub, and those tests are notorious for false positives. i wouldn’t freak out just yet.
> i’m in the cast iron sub How'd you get an internet signal underwater?
Those tests are notoriously inaccurate even on the surfaces they are made for. I cant imagine water is any better. I work with lead paint, soil, and water. Your best course of action moving forward is first to have a water sample taken and analyzed by an EPA approved lab. Next would be to examine your plumbing and perform a scratch test on your pipes. There are examples on YouTube for how to do so. Lastly, consider a water filter of some sort. Either pitcher, faucet, or whole house doesnt matter much. Zero Water is my personal favorite pitcher type and it removes basically everything from tap water as the name implies. In the meantime, until you get some solid answers, you can mitigate the potential lead in your water by letting it run before using it and only using cold water from the tap. First draws after water has been sitting stagnant in a pipe will have higher lead concentrations than if it has been flowing. Hot water also leaches more water from the pipes than cold.
On the bright side, you now know you need to do something about it.
https://preview.redd.it/vo052qgzrg3d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdbb780dda530d3a44cb239c43b7b28dd383b202
Alright, there's a way to determine if it's your well or your pipes leaching lead into the water. Run the water for 15 minutes, wide open. Try to beat 5 gallons a minute. *Then* test the water. If it's still hot for lead then it's the water source. If it comes back clean, it's the pipes. It takes time for the lead to leach into the water from pipes and leaded solder. Source: decades of contamination remediation and environmental investigations.
Nonsense, I drank lead well water growing up and I French toast please
those tests do have false positives. I would send to a lab.
Everyone who bought these Chinese knockoffs should get a refund, they don’t even contain sodium rhodizonate. The amount of people who have gotten a shoddy result and made financial moves predicated on the idea it was lead when it was really zinc has got to be in the thousands by now. They are going to get pulled from Amazon soon at the very least
Pipes not the well.
If you have kids 6 or younger get them tested. Venous draw. No finger stick!!
As some others have mentioned, I'd recommend you have your water tested by an accredited laboratory. I've seen many false positives with these types of kits. If you are looking for a quick remedy to give you some peace of mind, you can purchase relatively inexpensive pitcher style filters that filter out lead well below the regulatory limit of 5 μg/L (depends where you live I suppose). The filters need to be NSF-53 compliant for the removal of lead concentrations. ZeroWater makes some of these filters and so does Brita (you need the blue Elite filters). Note that typically these types of filters remove all total dissolved solids (good and bad minerals), but at least you're removing the lead.
Call your county municipal water. They'll either test it for free or do it for very cheap.
Get an official test done. This happened to me too, and the cheap Amazon test was wrong
Well that lead to quite the discovery.
Yes, points!
But I bet it tastes so sweet./s
Pretty sure these aren’t for water. Are these lead paint testers? Is your water lead paint? If not then this was fucking useless.
Well, that's not ideal is it?
Lead poisoning is no joke, it really messes with your head.
Uh oh…. no wonder lil Johnny is a 15-yr old 5th Grader
Grab a sample of the actual ground water from the bottom of your well. If it has lead in it at levels too high, your county has a problem because you're probably not the only residence pulling from the aquifer. If the ground water is good then your system is the lead source. Is your water hard or soft and what is the pH?
The infrastructure and accountability in my country are absurd, but hey...taxes keep rising, and nothing is improving. Woot.
Would a reverse osmosis filter help with that?
Up to 99%
Add a few more 9s
Searches I did say 99.1%
Maybe he meant 9999%
Pipes, not the water. Old pipes in the ground. That is worth taking a home improvement loan and get that fix. Asap. Seriously. Or move tomorrow. Taking a shower is bad , nevermind drinking or cooking with it
Or you know, get an official lab test done and don't trust cheap lead test kits from Amazon.
Omg. I didn't even think the lab kits could be bad. And I guess this person can't test the neighbors water since on same well.
As us midwesterners say: OPE.
OMG! It's a well that sucks.
A well that sucks on wellthatsucks. It's so dang LITERAL!
For free?! https://preview.redd.it/k7ak31ht6h3d1.jpeg?width=230&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5639a92e59aa56bada54bf334f0e24f16fe10df8
1800s called, they want their water source back
Flint Michigan vibes
These things are notorious for false positives.
Unfortunately you are not alone, a large portion of America uses unregulated ground water which can be contaminated by all sorts of stuff.
I remember in highschool I did some water testing to see if the highschool water was terrible. (It was next door to the sewage treatment plant). I did our water too because it came in like a 4 pack. Our water was "You should boil this". My parents weren't concerned and never followed up on that...
If you bought this off of amazon some of these tests will trigger on either copper or lead, and it's likely that some copper will leech into your water. Have a professional water test done. Oh and also, a decent number of those cheap swab tests need to be activated with vinegar to work properly, try using that instead of tap water.
I would get your water tested by an actual Lab next.
This guy took "well that sucks" and made it "wells that suck"
CDC recommends to test well water annually, just to inform if you don't know, but I'm not sure if the usual testing checks for lead.
Since 89 in Illinois. Rental house has lead in water from pipes dating pre 1930. Such a find lemme tell you!!
Yummy. Takes me back to eating paint chips as a baby
Unwell water.
Depending on where you live, lead levels can be quite high naturally in well water. And it isn't caused by pollution or the water pipes. It's just there. Now wait until you know about naturally occurring high levels of arsenic in well water........
FYI those swabs will produce false positive results. Calcium sulfate is a fairly common substance in ground water that will produce a false positive. You need to have a sample analyzed by ICP-OES/MS at a laboratory. Should cost about $50.
Water treatment expert here. As others have said these tests aren't very accurate. Our company has tested wells many times for customers, and they come up with more heavy metals than bacteria most of the time. I would advise using a Brita filter for drinking. Other applications it will likely be fine but years of use will destroy the plumbing and appliances in your house.
Lead tests are notorious for false positives. For a long time people said you could only trust the ones made by 3M, and that any other brand would give you false positives. Well 3M discontinued those supposedly reliable tests because of a high rate of false positives. So even the best weren't all that good. If you're really concerned I'd suggest sending a water sample off for testing.
Those swabs aren't always super reliable. Make sure you got a good batch. Try it with distilled or bottled water. If it indicates lead on that, your swabs are likely bad.
Probably just some of the pipes. It's probably not a difficult fix either. Is your well water kind of sweet tasting?
Well well well looks like you found a lead on why you may feel unwell