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españolYou might be familiar with the term lead free, but do you know how to tell if a new kitchen or bathroom faucet you’re considering is actually low-lead? If you have kids in your home, you want to make sure your drinking water is safe and lead-free.
Older homes, plumbing service lines and other older fixtures can also contribute to trace amounts of lead in drinking water.
Often the most obvious way to find out is to get a test done by your drinking water utility or county health department. But sometimes that doesn’t work, and you need to dig a little deeper.
Another option is to check the product you’re thinking of buying for certification that it meets a standard, which requires all certified drinking water devices to leach only 1 microgram (mcg) of lead or less during testing.
This standard is a voluntary consensus standard that sets a standard for all devices and plumbing components that contact drinking water.
The standard was to limit the amount of lead that can be added to brass alloys used in small valves, faucets and other plumbing fixtures. Previously, these items could have been as high as 8% lead.
