“Lead Leached into Water from Select Plumbing Fixtures” CouldLead to Health Hazard
Journal Title: Journal of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University - Year 2014, Vol 3, Issue 1
Abstract
Background: Lead is an inert metal and is resistant tocorrosion. It also increases tensile strength of manycommon materials in daily use. Lead was used duringthe Roman period to transport water (hence the nameplumbing/plumber is common terminology even in thepresent day). Lead enters the biological system throughthe air, water, and dust. Fine particles of lead, havingdiameter less than 5 nm are directly absorbed by lungs.Inorganic lead is absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract,and organic lead is absorbed by the skin. Lead haslong been known to be a toxic heavy metal and exposureis associated with many deleterious health effects.Still, lead remains a popular ingredient in products rangingfrom paint to batteries. The lead content in anygiven material is estimated using various methods. Theleast cumbersome method is found to be X-Ray Fluorescencetechnique (XRF). A portable XRF device wasused in the present study. Aim: The main aim of thisstudy to investigate whether lead is present in variouscommonly used plumbing materials. Material andMethods: All types of branded and commonly usedpipes were gathered from a market in Bangalore andtested using the XRF machine. In order to evaluate towhat extent lead from the pipes could leach into water,seven pipes were randomly selected and filled withAquafina water (having undetectable level of lead) fora 24 hour period. This water was tested at an NABLaccredited laboratory in Bangalore, India for lead content.Result: It was determined that lead was presentin many of the samples, at an unacceptable levels rangingfrom, well above the globally accepted level of 0.01mg/L proof that lead was able to leach from the samplesinto water. Conclusions: As lead in drinking waterrepresents a direct pathway for human exposure, theauthors recommend that significant measures be takento prevent use of lead in the plumbing industry for preventionof it’s deleterious effects. Authors have alsorecommended non expensive solution to prevent thelead from water getting in to biological or environmentalsystem.
Authors and Affiliations
Ramsey Coles , Sudhanshu Mishra , Nanjundaiah Shashidhara , Thuppil Venkatesh
Keywords
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