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Globe & Mail: High lead levels found in drinking water of major Canadian cities

BeyondTheNow

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Multiple sources have been reporting on this today. Quite troubling considering many of us believe our drinking water is “fine”, because we’re constantly told it is. If 5 ppb is considered the level within safe standards and large cities are registering quantities as high as 140 ppb, then that’s a serious problem. 

High lead levels found in drinking water of major Canadian cities


...A yearlong investigation by more than 120 journalists from nine universities and 10 media organizations, including The Associated Press and the Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia University in Montreal, collected test results that properly measure exposure to lead in 11 cities across Canada. Out of 12,000 tests since 2014, one-third — 33% — exceeded the national safety guideline of 5 parts per billion; 18% exceeded the U.S. limit of 15 ppb...

“It’s a little bit disturbing to see that there’s that much,” said Andrew Keddie, a retired professor who assumed his water was clean after replacing pipes years ago at his home in Edmonton, a city of almost 1 million. What he couldn’t do is replace public service lines delivering water to his house. After learning his water lead levels tested at 28 ppb, Keddie said he was “concerned enough that we won’t be drinking and using this water.”

Sarah Rana, 18, was one of tens of thousands of students who weren’t alerted when her brick high school in Oakville, Ont., found lead levels above national guidelines in dozens of water samples, the highest at 140 ppb. She found out on her own, looking at reports posted online...

More at link:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-high-lead-levels-found-in-drinking-water-of-major-canadian-cities/
 
Prince Rupert was pretty bankrupt for quite awhile, now with the upturn in port activity and direct revenue from Pembina for the LPG export terminal on Watson Island, they can start fixing infrastructure.
 
Colin P said:
Prince Rupert was pretty bankrupt for quite awhile, now with the upturn in port activity and direct revenue from Pembina for the LPG export terminal on Watson Island, they can start fixing infrastructure.

Meanwhile, in Victoria, there's nothing like Douglas Fir pipes to show your commitment to the Green movement...

https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/community/time-is-up-for-wood-stave-storm-sewers-in-greater-victoria/
 
And I've been drinking tap water in Rupert ffs >.<

Guess bottled it is from here on out. Thanks for the share, I was completely unaware.

I'm sure it is "safe" but yeah...
Abdullah
 
I'm not sure if anybody else here is a fan of SciShow.  It's a great little series on Youtube, with each episode lasting an average of about 5 to 7 minutes - where they break down and explain some pretty interesting topics in short, easy to understand formats.

They did an episode on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan - how it started, the science behind it, and why it was so difficult for the municipality to understand how to fix it.  Turns out lead pipes, usually installed decades ago when a municipality was first starting to be founded or expand, caused a LOT of problems that were WAY more complicated than previously understood.

That, and like Rupert, Flint was pretty much broke & couldn't afford to basically rip up and replace all the piping under the city.  (Not to mention the huge costs just in accessing the pipes.)  We would face similar challenges here too.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAIXmt58iBU
 
This is all pretty alarmist......tell people about the issue by all means, but enough of the panic.....

The solution is simple....run the water.

lead is absorbed by the water when it sits against it. So flush out that water that was standing in the pipes and things are fine....
 
AbdullahD said:
Guess bottled it is from here on out.

Abdullah

I would recommend against that.  Please do your own comparative investigation of the safety of tap water vs the safety of bottled water.  You will likely conclude tap water is safer. 
 
GAP said:
This is all pretty alarmist......
    :nod:
I've found that by filtering my water through a brewery, the concern becomes less and less as the evening goes on (or afternoon, for day-drinkers).  :cheers:
 
BeyondTheNow said:
If 5 ppb is considered the level within safe standards and large cities are registering quantities as high as 140 ppb, then that’s a serious problem. 

Toronto offers free "Lead Testing for Residents",

Residents who live in homes built before the mid-1950s can submit a tap water sample to the City for testing, free of charge, to help determine the amount of lead in the water.

Prior to the mid-1950s, lead was commonly used to build pipes that deliver water from the street into residential homes. Lead pipes were not used in apartment and other buildings with more than six units, regardless of age. Lead is too soft to handle the pressure needed for these types of buildings.
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/tap-water-in-toronto/lead-drinking-water/lead-testing-for-residents/

Other municipalities may also offer this free service to their residents.

If you ever get a chance to visit a water treatment plant, you may wish to take advantage of it.

This is one of the water treatment plants in Toronto,
https://torontoist.com/2011/01/unseen_city_the_rc_harris_water_treatment_plant/slide/20101119rch07/








 

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stoker dave said:
I would recommend against that.  Please do your own comparative investigation of the safety of tap water vs the safety of bottled water.  You will likely conclude tap water is safer.

Very, very interesting. Did do some reading on that, fascinating subject.

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Bottled_Water_vs_Tap_Water

I told my wife about this and she went and found the water testing reports, for the community we live in and found elevated levels of lead in our community water as well.

Whats even more interesting is some of the neighboring communities do not have lead water issues. I think what we will realistically do is just install a heavy metal water filteration system, for the whole house.

Now having said that I will be calling the city today and confirming that the reports we read are current and factual and we are not missing any pertinent information.

I am just quite suprised our water quality is not top notch here, I always thought we had best of the best for water quality.

Abdullah
 
daftandbarmy said:
Meanwhile, in Victoria, there's nothing like Douglas Fir pipes to show your commitment to the Green movement...

https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/community/time-is-up-for-wood-stave-storm-sewers-in-greater-victoria/

Well done them for use of a sustainable resource!

;D

I’m with Journeyman on how best to provision and consume safe drinking water. :nod:

Regards
G2G
 
How to know if you have lead pipes,

1. Find out if you live in a house built before the mid-1950s. If so, it likely has a lead water service pipe. If you own your house, check the purchase papers. If you rent, ask the owner.

2. If possible, look at the pipe that goes into your water meter. If it is grey, scratches easily and does not sound hollow when you tap it, it may be lead.

A licensed plumber is the best way to determine if your water service pipe is lead. They will likely need to enter your basement to make a visual inspection of the pipe.

The City also offers free lead testing to help determine if you have lead in your water.
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/tap-water-in-toronto/lead-drinking-water/
 
AbdullahD said:
And I've been drinking tap water in Rupert ffs >.<

Guess bottled it is from here on out. Thanks for the share, I was completely unaware.

I'm sure it is "safe" but yeah...
Abdullah

Personally, I wouldn’t go quite that far. A quick google search shows several tests of bottled water from multiple sources showing varying levels of bacteria, and/or leaching chemicals, as well as incidences of unsafe levels of arsenic and micro-plastics among other concerns. (There are so many sources, I’m not going to bother citing...) Of course, let’s also take into account the alarming problem of plastic pollution world-wide...And bottled water was a consumer ploy right from day one anyway.

Lesser of two evils? I’d still go with tap water in most locations unless there was some sort of formal advisory in place.
 
AbdullahD said:
... I will be calling the city today and confirming that the reports we read are current and factual and we are not missing any pertinent information ...
THAT's a good approach anywhere, whether or not the community's listed in these stories.  Where I live, the municipality threw out a FB advisory (attached) and set up this page with Q&A's and contact info to talk to real people.

 

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GAP said:
This is all pretty alarmist......tell people about the issue by all means, but enough of the panic.....

The solution is simple....run the water.

lead is absorbed by the water when it sits against it. So flush out that water that was standing in the pipes and things are fine....

I’m obviously not an expert in the field, but I feel pretty confident in stating that’s an overly simplistic assessment.

How long is one supposed to run the water for? If it’s just a matter of a few, short lengths of pipe around the home, no biggie—15-30sec?—A minute tops? But if the piping runs consistently from home to home, neighbourhood to neighbourhood, lengthy distances between one’s tap and a treatment facility, then what?
The largest and easiest example to reference would be the Flint water crisis. It never would have reached the severity and exposure it did if all one had to do was run the water for a bit. Surely that’s an easy fix their government would’ve doled out...and many local governments are all about easy fixes when facing potentially catastrophic and costly scenarios.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

More to the point, if that was all that was required, why would anyone formally submit the findings of tests where they’re publicly available (at the very least accompanied by that recommendation) without running the water for a bit first? It also doesn’t account for buildings where the water flows routinely through pipes, such as schools or other high-traffic buildings which still had high readings.

Alarmist? Maybe a bit. That’s what media loves to do. But it’s at least concerning and worth attention.
 
So apparently we do not have to worry ^^

The city said we have no lead service pipes in our community, our homes is a relatively new build so no lead in the copper solder as well.

But it does have me thinking of just installing something anyways. Cheap enough it is worth the peace of mind.

Abdullah
 
AbdullahD said:
So apparently we do not have to worry ^^

The city said we have no lead service pipes in our community, our homes is a relatively new build so no lead in the copper solder as well.

But it does have me thinking of just installing something anyways. Cheap enough it is worth the peace of mind.

Abdullah

Saint David has spoken :)


https://davidsuzuki.org/queen-of-green/whats-best-water-filtration-system/

- mod edit to fix link -
 
BeyondTheNow said:
I’m obviously not an expert in the field, but I feel pretty confident in stating that’s an overly simplistic assessment.

How long is one supposed to run the water for? If it’s just a matter of a few, short lengths of pipe around the home, no biggie—15-30sec?—A minute tops? But if the piping runs consistently from home to home, neighbourhood to neighbourhood, lengthy distances between one’s tap and a treatment facility, then what?
The largest and easiest example to reference would be the Flint water crisis. It never would have reached the severity and exposure it did if all one had to do was run the water for a bit. Surely that’s an easy fix their government would’ve doled out...and many local governments are all about easy fixes when facing potentially catastrophic and costly scenarios.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

More to the point, if that was all that was required, why would anyone formally submit the findings of tests where they’re publicly available (at the very least accompanied by that recommendation) without running the water for a bit first? It also doesn’t account for buildings where the water flows routinely through pipes, such as schools or other high-traffic buildings which still had high readings.

Alarmist? Maybe a bit. That’s what media loves to do. But it’s at least concerning and worth attention.


I was going to say this exact same thing (almost) but you beat me to it.

If the solution was as simple as running the water, then this wouldn't have been an issue.  Ever.  Anywhere.

Like the wikipedia article linked above, or the youtube clip that I linked, the problem with the Flint water crisis was exasperated & more complicated than what most people realize.  I don't think simply "running the water" would have fixed it - surely one of the engineers or specialists they consulted would have suggested that, if that was the case.



Alarmist?  Perhaps.  But if some levels are far above whats considered safe, and some levels are far above whats even considered mildly toxic, it should be addressed pretty quickly if for no other reason than the long term affects it can have on a population.  (Not just for those of us getting older, but for pregnant moms, fetuses, kids, etc.)

Again, I'm really not a water expert.  Perhaps it is alarmist, yes.  But, also not an issue to ignore, either.
 
AbdullahD said:
So apparently we do not have to worry ^^

The city said we have no lead service pipes in our community, our homes is a relatively new build so no lead in the copper solder as well.

But it does have me thinking of just installing something anyways. Cheap enough it is worth the peace of mind.

Abdullah

The UV filters won't effect metals, so you need another type likely a carbon filter and then reverse-omosis to get all of the lead out.
 
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