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
Chigwell 1968
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Chigwell]
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(b) On account of their hardness content and alkaline
reaction the Board's river and well water supplies are
not considered to be plumbo-solvent. It should, however,
be appreciated that all types of water pick up varying
amounts of metal from the material of water piping
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:-
Lead content of water from main taps in consumers' premises
| Lead content (mg/l Pb) | Samples of water standing in lead pipe overnight | Samples of water after running the tap |
|---|---|---|
| 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/l (Pb);
but where water undertakings continue to use lead piping the concentration
of lead (as Pb) should not exceed 0.3 mg/l after 16 hours contact with
the pipes.
/Water
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