MWD Warns Californians About Getting the Lead Out

Local officials operating under a federal mandate are warning Southern Californians that if significant lead contamination is present in their drinking water it can cause nerve disorders, permanent injury to organs and brain damage.

Twenty newspapers from Ventura to San Diego are carrying advertisements from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California explaining the effects of lead poisoning and how to avoid it, district spokesman Tim Skrove said. The series of ads started in early May and is scheduled to run through July.

The MWD serves 14 million people and supplies half of all the water used in Southern California by importing it from Northern California and the Colorado River.

District water sources do not exceed the federal standard for lead levels, Skrove said, but plumbing systems can contaminate home supplies, and even purified bottled water is unsafe if it is not treated to remove lead.

Lead and Copper

Incidences of contamination from lead pipes in Southern California have been low because such pipes are virtually nonexistent in the area, he said.

“But many homes have copper pipes that are soldered together with lead,” he added. “And even trace amounts of it in the water can accumulate in the body to cause major problems.”

Skrove said homes that are less than 5 years old and those with soft or acidic water also are particularly susceptible to lead leaching from plumbing.

Among the effects listed in the ads are “serious damage to the brain, kidneys, nervous system and the red blood cells. The greatest risk, even with short-term exposure, is to young children and pregnant women.”

Skrove said symptoms of lead poisoning do not necessarily appear suddenly, and most often involve subtle changes in body chemistry over long periods. Severe lead poisoning causes mental retardation and death, he said.

The newspaper campaign is part of a national program mandated by the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986, which is being enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency. District ads go beyond the required text of a few paragraphs to avoid alarming readers unnecessarily, Skrove said.

“We’re trying not to scare people with these warnings,” he said. “In addition to the warnings we are offering constructive solutions.”

The advertisements list toll-free numbers where consumers can get in touch with laboratories that will test water for $7 to $35 and get information on water-filtration systems. “These types of notices are taken out of context by some companies selling home water-filtration devices,” the ads warn.

In addition, they suggest that consumers use only cold tap water for cooking and drinking and let the water run up to 30 seconds before using it, especially if the tap has gone unused for a long time. They also advise that people buying bottled water ask the supplier for a lead content analysis.

The 27 agencies under the district’s supervision can reduce lead levels with corrosion inhibitors applied to pipes, chemical adjustment of water to prevent corrosion and the use of local ground-water supplies, Skrove said.

The MWD has budgeted $94,000 for the ads, Skrove said.