When were lead pipes last used for transporting water?

Worztron

Hi.

I recently came across these articles:

• 30,000 homes at risk of lead poisoning from water: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/health/30000-homes-at-risk-of-lead-poisoning-from-water-218465.html
• EPA plays down reports over lead water piping: http://www.thejournal.ie/epa-plays-down-reports-over-lead-water-piping-321682-Jan2012/

When were lead pipes no longer used for transporting water?

Worztron

Anyone?

Saipanne

I'd say try a specialised forum like Construction or something.

finnyj

Lead pipes and believe it or not Asbestos mains water pipes are still in use but are being replaced as they break.

Worztron

finnyj wrote: »

Lead pipes and believe it or not Asbestos mains water pipes are still in use but are being replaced as they break.

Hi finnyj. How do you know that? Surely they'd have stopped using lead piping decades ago?

finnyj

Worztron wrote: »

Hi finnyj. How do you know that? Surely they'd have stopped using lead piping decades ago?

I have a relative that works in the Water Works repairing leaks.
I'm sure they have stopped using theses materials a long time but they have never completely replaced them all.

SpaceTime

From what I gather the risk is mostly from privately owned linking pipes that might distribute a single water connection between several homes. This would have been installed by the builder so the local authority might not have any records of it and historically took no responsibility for them.

The other big risk is internal plumbing in older houses and pipes running under your drive or garden to the stopcock where it connects to the mains.

Irish Water really should be forced to take on all of these "private" mains too.

calnand

Thought I replied, but it obviously didn't work. They stopped using lead pipes in new builds from the 70's onwards, so any house built before that most probably has lead pipes somewhere in the houses. One way to check is looking for dull grey pipes, and scratch them lightly with a knife, if the scraped part is shiny it's a lead pipe. Contact the council's environment dept, they have more information or get a plumber in to check out your house. If your really worried get your water tested, otherwise it's not that big of problem. Water when moving through the system wouldn't absorb much lead from the pipes, so just make sure to run off some water if a tap hasn't been used for a while.

K.Flyer

There are plenty of older houses around the country that still have lead pipework from the main pipe on the road through the stop-cock and into the house, which generally only gets replaced if there is a problem.
But it has been decades since lead pipe was used for any new water supply installation.

Markcheese

My dad worked as a plumber around cork in the 70's ,no -one used lead then except council plumbers - and even then it was just from the mains to the the stop -cock - everywhere else it had been discontinued years before - he was trained in lead piping and lead work in the 60's but it wasn't used -

Roger Hassenforder

SpaceTime wrote: »

From what I gather the risk is mostly from privately owned linking pipes that might distribute a single water connection between several homes. This would have been installed by the builder so the local authority might not have any records of it and historically took no responsibility for them.

The other big risk is internal plumbing in older houses and pipes running under your drive or garden to the stopcock where it connects to the mains.

Irish Water really should be forced to take on all of these "private" mains too.

Your private connection to the main is your business.
Plumosolvency is a function of hardness and pH, Cork is supplied by the Lee, and river water is lower risk than lake/soft groundwater.

Markcheese

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

Your private connection to the main is your business.
Plumosolvency is a function of hardness and pH, Cork is supplied by the Lee, and river water is lower risk than lake/soft groundwater.

Cork city is - and some of the county - where I am in east cork each town/village seems to have its own seperate supply - Midleton, Cloyne, whitegate and Cobh are all on seperate supplies ,(I assume youghal-killeagh the same) . Lead issues in council estates in Cobh -
Idealy Irish water would have had a process where if lead pipe was found either side of the stop cock it'd be removed there and then (ie.dug back to the water main and replaced )
I suppose the scale of the issue is only becoming apparent now -

Roger Hassenforder

Markcheese wrote: »

Cork city is - and some of the county - where I am in east cork each town/village seems to have its own seperate supply - Midleton, Cloyne, whitegate and Cobh are all on seperate supplies ,(I assume youghal-killeagh the same) . Lead issues in council estates in Cobh -
Idealy Irish water would have had a process where if lead pipe was found either side of the stop cock it'd be removed there and then (ie.dug back to the water main and replaced )
I suppose the scale of the issue is only becoming apparent now -

they're replacing the mains, and in some cases multihouse external private connections where they can, as well as connections from the stop cock back to the main, but to change all the lead pipes would necessitate intrusive works in your home. thats why they are going to try the dosing with phosphate which will slowly line the pipes

jungleman

I actually wrote an essay on lead poisoning last year. From what I remember, they were last used in Britain and Ireland in the 1960's. However, lots of current fittings are old ones which haven't been replaced, meaning lead is still a danger to many people.

Worztron

Thanks for the input guys.

rom

My parents live in an estate in Ballincollig. When gas was being piped to peoples homes they broke the connection to the mains and it was a lead pipe. House prob built in late 60 early 70s. Was never council houses. Meter was installed and lead pipe remains.

jungleman

Just found that old essay I wrote on lead poisoning. Here's a bit of info:

"In the UK and Ireland, small lead pipes were commonly used in plumbing during and before the 1970s. Although build-up of scale in the pipes can restrict the amount of lead that the water is exposed to, soft water areas are still at risk of continuous low level lead exposure (Inspectorate, 2010). In an effort to decrease the risk of lead contamination of the water supply, in 1991 the EPA published the "Lead and Copper Rule" (Agency, 2012), which stated that checks be carried out on the public's water supply, and if 10% of the total sample exceeded 15 parts per billion, action must be taken to control pipe corrosion. "

"The leading cause of childhood lead exposure today is through lead-based paint (Miranda, et al., 2002). Lead-based paint was regularly used worldwide until the 1970s, and 50 million US homes still harbour it (Miranda, et al., 2002). It is through examining these 50 million homes that the persons who are most at risk become apparent. As lead based paint was made illegal in the US in 1978 (Prevention, 2013), houses built during and before that time are likely to have traces of lead paint throughout."

Markcheese

My dad's a plumber, and said the council insisted the final connection from mains to stop-cock be made in lead during the 70s -
It's unlikely that much of the system will be lead -technically if it's on the house side of the meter it's the house owners problem ( their pipe on their property)"but I think Irish water are going to replace it -
Don't think the current meter installers are contracted to replace the lead but they do have to inform Irish water of its presence - seperate contract / job " in the future " to replace the lead -