Does Your Home’s Water Contain Lead? Here’s How to Find Out
Does the water in my house have lead in it?
Unfortunately, there are still quite a few water service lines in Mass that are made of lead. This lead can leach into the water and end up in the water you and your family drink and bathe with.
The records for which water lines are actually leaded to my knowledge aren’t too reliable. They’re currently in my town, Medford, actually doing some test digging on certain streets to try and identify which service lines are made with lead. This seems to be more common in the surrounding towns as well.
To protect you and your family, you can have your water tested for lead to see if you might be affected.
What are my options for testing my water for lead?
There are a couple of options available to you. The best and most accurate way is to find a local laboratory that can conduct testing and they’ll be able to measure the levels of lead in your water. This is the most accurate method, but can be a little pricey and requires a couple of trips to the lab to get equipment and drop off samples. There’s also the option of doing an at-home test kit which can provide some information if you’re worried about lead in your water.
At-Home Tests Kits
The thing at home test kits have going for them is they’re fast and relatively inexpensive. You can get them easily online (like this one or this one) and you can know pretty quickly if your homes water has lead.
They are very straightforward to use and are actually very similar to the Covid tests we all had to use not too long ago. You gather a sample of the water and put it on the test strip. Within 10 minutes or so, you’ll have a result.
The pros of these tests are that they’re easy to get and you have results pretty quickly. The downside to these at home tests is that they’re not as accurate as using a local lab to test your water. So you run the risk of potential false positives or false negatives. These tests can be a good first line of defense, but they are no substitute for getting your water tested at a local lab. That’s the method we recommend and will ultimately be able to determine how safe your drinking water is.
Where DO i find a local lab that can do the testing?
Luckily, the State has a database that contains the info for all the labs that are certified to test water for lead. Not all the labs will test water for every town, so you do need to call and find out if they’ll be able to help you out.
Here’s the website that has State’s database of certified labs.
This is the most accurate test you can to in order to verify your drinking water has safe levels of lead. If you’re at all worried about the state of the water in your home, contact the lab and they’ll be able to provide you with more information.
Typically, they’ll provide you with a couple of containers for collecting the samples. They’ll also provide instructions so you know exactly how to collect the various samples. You then bring everything back to the lab and you’ll have your results typically within a week or so.
Summary
The two most common options are at-home lead test kits and using a local laboratory to test your homes water. The at-home test kits are a good first line of defense because they’re cheap and easy to use. You also get results within a matter of minutes. The downside to these tests is that they’re not as accurate as local labs and can on occasion provide misleading results.
The best solution is to contact a local laboratory that can help you test your homes water for lead. This is the most accurate option. The downside to the lab is it’s typically a bit more expensive and takes a bit more time to get the results.
For more on lead in drinking water, visit the EPA’s official page.
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