Providence Water has found elevated levels of lead in drinking water in some area homes and buildings. Lead can cause serious health problems, especially for young children and pregnant women. Lead can cause damage to the brain and kidneys and can interfere with the production of red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of the body. Lead is a common metal found in lead-based paint, air, soil, household dust, food, pottery, porcelain, pewter, and drinking water exposed to lead sources for several hours.

Drinking water that leaves the treatment plant in Scituate and journeys through the Providence Water distribution system has no detectable levels of lead.

An abundant supply made lead the metal of choice for plumbing use prior to the Second World War. In older homes built before 1947, there is a strong probability that some or all of the building’s pipes, fixtures and soldered plumbing connections consist of lead, brass or lead-based solder. Homes built after 1947 were plumbed using copper piping instead of lead. For homes built between 1948 and 1988, the building’s copper plumbing was probably soldered with a lead-tin solder. Use of lead-tin solder was banned in 1988.

When standing water is exposed to lead pipes or fixtures and solder for more than a few hours, trace amounts of lead can leach into the standing water. This means the first water drawn from the tap in the morning, or later in the afternoon after returning home from work or school, can contain higher levels of lead.

There are simple steps people can take to immediately reduce potential lead exposure from household plumbing. If water has not been used in the building for several hours, people should run water from a cold-water faucet for three to five minutes if the first use of the water is for drinking or cooking. At the end of the flush, the running water should feel noticeably colder. This colder water from the tap indicates that standing water in the home’s pipes has been flushed and displaced by water from the water main in the street, where exposure to lead is non-existent. The cost of the flushed water is about a penny, and people can collect the flushed water to use for watering plants or for household cleaning to avoid waste.

Here’s another important tip for minimizing the effects of a home’s lead plumbing. For families with babies and young children, formula and other meals should always be prepared with flushed cold water. Using hot water from the tap can cause trace lead amounts to leach from the home’s plumbing into the food source, even after a full flush. Families should also clean their home’s faucet aerators periodically. Lead from the home’s plumbing could accumulate undetected in the aerator screen and be in contact with water passing through, especially after any repair or replacement of lead-based plumbing or fixtures in the home.

Unlike microbial contamination, boiling water does not reduce any lead levels in drinking water. Again, the best way to ensure the lowest possible lead exposure is to flush before use, clean faucet aerators regularly, and cook/drink with noticeably colder water from a cold-water faucet that has been allowed to flush for three to five minutes.

Today, approximately one out of every five Providence Water customer homes remain connected to the water mains in the street with pipes made of lead. On July 31, 2007, approximately 25,600 of the nearly 73,000 system service connections were made of lead. Since then, as of June 30, 2015, Providence Water has replaced 11,893 utility-owned lead service connections with copper connections.

For $10, Providence Water customers in Providence, Cranston, North Providence and Johnston can get their water tested to determine if there are excessive levels of lead in their homes. For more information on how they can get their water tested, Providence Water customers can call 521-5070. If lead levels are high for the first sample, Providence Water will pay for a second test.

Additional information about lead and drinking water is published on Providence Water’s website at www.provwater.com and the USEPA’s website at www.epa.gov/lead.