Lead in water?

[Crepe Suzette]

We live in ED and a couple of months ago had searches done on a flat we wanted to buy, also in ED. The searches came back with a "failed test on lead in the drinking water" (or "one of the 51 tests failed for lead" - don't remember the exact details). We pulled out for different reasons and now found a new flat, also in ED, and are awaiting the searches.

Has anyone else seen remarks about lead in the water in this area? Is it very local or more widespread? Is it serious or pretty much standard to fail some tests at some point in time? From the searches it didn't seem like the test was done inside the property so it would have been in the public water supply.

Thanks all!

[trinity]

Hi - when we bought our current property it also failed the lead test for the mains water supply. This was picked up on the survey as the lead piping in the kitchen was fairly obvious. The lead was replaced from the tap all the way back to the mains supply outside our house by Thames water under a scheme where they paid for most of the costs.

The scheme finished shortly after and I think homeowners are now responsible for that section of pipe from the mains into your house.

I don't think there is any problem with the general water supply but there may be residual lead piping into Victorian properties. Certainly when we replaced the lead piping our water supply passed the test.

[Crepe Suzette]

Does anyone know what it might cost (roughly) to replace the piping from your house to the main water supply?

[fractionater]

how can one go about getting a lead water level test only (without having a full survey)?

Our Mains pipe was replaced a couple of years back - Thames Water did it for free, but I think there maybe other lead pipes between the mains and tap!

[Al&Em]

We have some lead pipes between the mains and our house which was flagged on the survey when we bought it (though not sure the actual lead levels were tested - if they were nothing untoward was flagged). The previous owners seemed alive and well having lived there for about 7 years (which reassured me slightly). Having said that I always make a point of running the water for a bit prior to drinking any to wash through any that's been sitting in the lead sections. Professional opinion we were given was that this was ok and it's one to replace in the long run.

[Lou]

Thames water will come and test it for you. Had ours done and the levels were fine. You are responsible for the mains pipe going into your house, if you do want to replace it, even if lead levels are fine, they will charge about ?500 to get them to connect it to the pipe outside your house. If levels are too high I think they do if for free/cheaper. We didn't bother as levels were fine and even if you have your pipes replaced the majority of the water pipes that bring the water to your house are lead, so seems a bit pointless.

[spadetownboy]

hopefully that will explain why my hair is falling out, and there was me thinking it was male pattern baldness.

[Oglandia]

I noticed lead pipes in our cellar and got Thames Water to do a water quality test (for free). Levels were fine, even allowing for a future change to new EU standards which will be more stringent than our current guidelines.

The man from Thames Water was knowledgeable and helpful, with real concerns about lead generally, but was very reassuring. The reality of many older houses is that the internal water pipes are pretty coated with limescale and stuff . As already stated run the tap for a while before consuming!

[lozzyloz]

An alternative is this triflow Less hassle than replacing a lead water mains pipe.

[Al&Em]

lozzyloz - we've got one of those triflows, but I only use it for drinking water. Do you use yours for cooking as well? Wondering if I should be using it more....

[lozzyloz]

Kind of. I use it for the kettle and often add water to food from the kettle during the cooking process. I don't use it for boiling pans of pasta though.