Washington, DC has a problem with lead in the drinking water
 

As per the Washington Post..

"DC health officials plan to announce today that all pregnant women and children under 6 who live in homes with lead service lines should immediately stop drinking unfiltered tap water and have their blood tested, a rare safety measure they say is necessary to safeguard the city's most vulnerable population"

(note... With a sentence that long is it any wonder that so many young people don't read newspapers?)

Over 6000 homes were tested and 2/3 of them had high levels of lead...some incredibly high.

Although, the problem may be limited to the 23,000 homes with lead service lines, I would use caution if visiting DC.

I doubt there would be any effect drinking the water during a short vacation. The warnings are for those consuming the water over a long period of time. And note that it was HOMES WITH LEAD SERVICE LINES ... I doubt that even the oldest hotels & restaurants in DC still have lead pipes.

rb,

The probably won't be any effect during a short vacation ...but do you think a pregnant woman wants to take that chance?

The lead level, in some cases, is 20 times the EPA limit. Although the tests were done last summer, the results have only recently been announced.

I live in the area, and when the health dept says that even boiling may not eliminate the lead, I take notice.

"even" boiling? why would boiling reduce lead? Doesn't make any sense, of course boiling doesn't reduce lead, if anything it concentrates it because some water evaporates. Lead isn't a bacteria.

Sure this isn't great, but I don't think drinking water during a tourist stay is going to make any difference.

The boiling comment is typical of these types of problems being assessed by government officials who are high paid but don't have a clue. Of course, boiling won't solve a thing, but these people vaguely remember something about boiling from their junior high science courses so they spout off about it.

It's unlikely that a health dept spokesperson ever thought that boiling would help with the lead problem; without seeing the context, I would expect that they were *asked* whether boiling would help (by someone whose science education did indeed end with jr hi) and they responded that no, it wouldn't help.

Lead accumulates in water as it sits in the pipes overnight; thorough flushing in the morning will ensure that the water with the greatest load of lead is not consumed. Running the cold water for 5 minutes is recommended -- this is a simple as taking your shower before you brush your teeth!

The water for the lead-contamination tests is drawn first thing in the morning, thus represents the highest levels that anyone in the house would ever consume.

Lead pipes were very commonly used in plumbing decades ago (and even by the Romans) because it's easy to work with. The older house-connection pipes in most cities are probably the same as DC's.

Lead isn't good for anyone but especially not for pregnant women, chidren, or people who are anemic. So go to Target or KMart and buy a travel-size water filter. Or buy drinking water. I've lived in older cities and we filtered our drinking water using a Britta fliter & pitcher. It's easy, quick and not very expensive.
I wouldn't count on your hotel's water lines to be new. There is often lead or lead solder in older water lines. And DC's lead concentration is much worse than the usual lead problems associated with lead pipes.

This is an old pipe problem.

Anyone concerned about this visiting Washington, DC, should just bring bottled water with him. Moreover, I expect that the stores in which bottled water are sold will vastly increase.

This should not be a huge problem for tourists. For people who live here--and who may have to purchase drinking water long term--it is a much larger problem.

I wonder how many other big cities actually have this problem--but we do not know about it yet.

In Washington DC I would worry more about lead in other parts of my anatomy, and water is not the delivery system!!