Lead Water Dangers

People are exposed to lead through the air they breathe, through water and through food/ingestion. Toxic effects are usually due to long term exposure. The population groups at greatest risk of exposure are young children and workers. Lead water can be very dangerous to our health. It can affect the way our systems work and it is very bad for us. There are many ways of ingesting it. Exposure to lead through water is generally low in comparison with exposure through air or food. Lead from natural sources is present in tap water to some extent, but analysis of both surface and groundwater suggests that lead concentration is fairly low. The main source of lead in drinking water is (old) lead piping and lead-combining solders. Removing old piping is costly and lead continues to dissolve even from old pipes. The amount of lead that may dissolve in water depends on acidity (pH), temperature, water hardness and standing time of the water. Secondary pollution from industry can contaminate water through the effluents produced.