Meeting Standards for Lead in Drinking Water

Abstract

AbstractDuring the last twenty years, the UK has made steady progress in the understanding of the ‘lead in drinking water’issue and towards compliance with a lead standard which is more stringent than elsewhere in Europe.Evaluating the needs for corrective action has not been straightforward because of the difficulties in characterizing the pick‐up of lead from lead pipes throughout whole water supply zones. Survey methods have developed over the past twenty years as the behaviour of lead pipes has become better understood, but some ambiguities may still need to be addressed.Information from Bristol Water suggests that compliance with a new lead standard of 10 μg/1 may be feasible by corrective water treatment in some zones, based on the already accepted practice of dosing with phosphoric acid, depending on how this more stringent standard is implemented. This view is also held by Anglian Water, based on their extensive experience with phosphoric acid dosing (without any significant problems) since the mid‐1980s. Therefore total lead pipe replacement, at substantially higher cost, can likely be avoided in many zones.