Should I be concerned about lead content in my public water?

Question

I have a whole house filter, but I have no idea what kind, and I've been told that such filters do not siphon out such substances as lead, copper, etc from the water because these are organic contaminants.

Here is my water quality report.

http://www.hcwsa.com/water07.pdf

3.5 PPBs of lead were detected. Since lead builds up and stockpiles in the body as opposed to ever actually getting detoxed, doesn't this mean that it could eventually reach toxic levels, or at the very least, an amount sufficiently such as to hinder cognitive development? I live in a house built in the late 1990s (1997-2000) so there shouldn't be any lead in the plumbing. I always run my faucets for two minutes each morning before using them, to eliminate any leached lead from the interior of my brass fixtures. Still though, should I be worried about the 3.5 PPB of lead?

Answer 1

You keep your questions secret, but I think you've asked this before.  No, there aren't major lead deposits in Georgia.  Yes, 3.5PPB is a low level of lead, but not trivial.  Yes, running your faucet before using the water to flush out leached lead from brass plumbing fixtures is reasonable, but 2 minutes is far too long.  You're just wasting potable water.  How much water do you think is really sitting in your faucet overnight?  How long does it take to flush that out?

Take Chlorella daily and eat lots of celentro to help naturally chelate heavy metals out of your body.

True, filtering does not remove dissolved chemicals, organic or inorganic.  Reverse osmosis removes most, but it's expensive, slow, and it also wastes lots of water.  Distillation does remove them, but if you're going to do that, please do solar distillation, or you're also wasting energy.

Answer 2

There is no reason at all to worry about that level of lead.  You definitely shouldn't be running the faucets - that's completely unnecessary and expensive.

You might not want to use hot water to fill a pot to boil (hot water in your pipes picks up way more lead), but consumption of any cold water in your house will be very safe without any procedures or protections.

And boiling water, for the record, does nothing to the lead content, despite what an earlier respondent seems to be implying. Unless you distill the water, which is far, far more complicated (and would remove a number of beneficial minerals in the water, thus defeating the purpose)

Answer 3

Just boil some water, let it cool and store a jug in ur fridge!  

Answer 4

15 ppb Lead is the EPAs 1991 "action level" at which a utility must inform users and begin taking steps to reduce the lead content.  

Prior to 1991 the limit was 50 ppb.

3.5 pbb isn't anything worth worrying about.