What happened in Flint first appeared to be an isolated incident of high lead levels in water. However, it is now clear that Flint was not an isolated case.
According to USA Today, almost 2,000 additional water systems spanning all 50 states were discovered to have excessive levels of lead . The water systems, which reported lead levels exceeding Environmental Protection Agency standards, collectively supply water to 6 million people.
It is now know that when pipes carrying water to homes, schools, and care centers begin to corrode, lead can enter our drinking water. Moreover, water that has high acidity or low mineral content is especially corrosive to fixtures and pipes.
Today, most pipes are made of copper. However, most homes built before 1986 still have lead solder connecting their copper pipes. Thus, the risk of lead in drinking water is high. The Center for Disease Control estimates there are 4 million households in the U.S. where children being exposed to high levels of lead.
And even if a home is brand new, the pipes carrying water may be bring lead-contaminated water to a household. The EPA reports that hundreds of major cities in the U.S. still have 100% lead piping connecting municipal water plants to homes and businesses.
The lead pipe issue and aging infrastructure of our municipal water systems will take time and money to remedy. It’s estimated that water suppliers need to spend more than 250 Billion Dollars to repair this problem--and this will not happen overnight.
The CDC suggests three ways to remove lead from drinking water: Distillation, Carbon Filtration and Reverse Osmosis.
As we've written in other articles, the most common water pitcher and refrigerator filters only remove simple chemicals and are designed primarily for better tasting water. The vast majority of these filters are totally ineffective for lead removal.
Distillation is a very slow process and requires a lot of energy from a heat source. Thus, it is not the optimal process for lead removal.
Some carbon block filters are designed to remove some lead, but the lead-removing ability can quickly become exhausted --thus inhibiting their lead removal capabilities. For example, a carbon filter capable of filtering 10,000 gallons of water might only be effective at reducing lead for the first 2,000 gallons. Thus, carbon filters with lead reduction abilities may not always be a reliable treatment method.
Reverse osmosis is widely considered to be the BEST WAY to protect your household and reduce or remove lead from drinking water. During the reverse osmosis water treatment process, water is pushed (by household water pressure) through a series of filters. The membrane in the reverse osmosis system will filter out the lead and many other contaminants, only allowing water to pass through. The impurities are flushed away, leaving you with filtered, clean, delicious drinking water. Reverse Osmosis is a highly-effective purification process, has a low production cost (only pennies per gallon), consumes no energy, and is easy to clean and maintain.