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0 pointsolegkikin9y ago0 comments

Wait, what? They have actual lead pipes for drinking water? That's insane.

0 comments

It's safe as long as the water chemistry doesn't leach the pipes. If it does, and you're not using agents in the water to stop it, you get Flint, MI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

"The Flint water crisis is a drinking water contamination issue in Flint, Michigan, United States that started in April 2014. After Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River (to which officials had failed to apply corrosion inhibitors), its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The Flint River water that was treated improperly caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal neurotoxin."

seanp2k29y ago

Is anyone else not totally cool with showering and drinking water with flouride, chlorine, and inhibitor chemicals? APEC Water makes a great counter-top tankless RO filtration system for $200 that takes 10 mins to install and doesn't require any permanent mounting (so it's fine to use in apartments). The only downside is that unlike filter taps with a reservoir tank, you only get the RO membrane rate of flow (~2GPH depending on your water pressure) so you kinda need to fill up a jug and keep it in the fridge, otherwise an 8oz glass of water takes about a minute to fill.

OrwellianChild9y ago

What's the risk here? Fluoride helps control dental health and chlorine keeps biological contaminants at bay. These are beneficial for your health! If you really don't want chlorine in your drinking water (or don't like the taste), you can let it sit in an open container for a couple hours - it will just evaporate...

mikeyouse9y ago

Lead was the common material for pipes until the 1950s and was only banned in the US in the mid 1980's. Most of the infrastructure in the US was built during the industrial revolution around the turn of the century, so most of that infrastructure is lead. If the water is treated properly (with very low levels of extremely cheap chemicals), these pipes are completely safe. It was estimated that spending $150/day in Flint would have prevented the crisis.

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