London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Bromley 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Bromley]
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particularly when it is newly installed; this applies to
copper, zinc, iron and also to lead.
Special tests for lead have been carried out during 1968
on 100 premises where a lead supply pipe is installed.
The premises were chosen to give an even distribution
of samples throughout the whole of the Board's area.
Two samples were collected from each premises; one was
the first running of water standing in the lead pipe
overnight and the other was a sample of water after
running the tap for a few minutes. The results are set
out in the accompanying table:—
| Less than 0.01 | 10 | 37 |
| 0.01 | 31 | 57 |
| 0.02 | 21 | 4 |
| 0.03 | 8 | 1 |
| 0.04 | 9 | 0 |
| 0.05 | 5 | 0 |
| 0.06 | 5 | 0 |
| 0.07 | 4 | 1 |
| 0.08 | 1 | 0 |
| 0.09 | 3 | 0 |
| 0.10 | 1 | 0 |
| 0.12 | 1 | 0 |
| 0.16 | 1 | 0 |
| 100 premises | 100 premises |
The above results are very satisfactory and the figures
are within the limits of the World Health Organisation
European Standards for Drinking Water Quality. This
states that the upper limit for lead in running water in
the supply should not be more than 0.1 mg/1 (Pb); but
where water undertakings continue to use lead piping the
concentration of lead (as Pb) should not exceed 0.3 mg/1
after 16 hours contact with the pipes."