State Acts to Cut Use of Brass in Well Pumps : Contamination: A lawsuit is filed to ban sale of such equipment in California after a study finds high levels of lead. EPA advises those with private wells to drink bottled water until supplies are tested.

A new study that found high levels of lead in the components of household wells led state and federal officials Monday to take action to reduce the exposure of the estimated 6 million households that get their water from private wells with brass-fitted pumps.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an advisory urging people who installed new household well pumps during the past year to use bottled drinking water until they can have their well water tested. The research showed that brass fittings on submersible well pumps are capable of leaching high levels of lead into well water. The study examined new pumps in a laboratory, leaving open the question of contamination by brass pumps that have been in the ground for months or longer.

Prolonged exposure to lead is believed to cause brain damage and birth defects. Pregnant women, infants and young children are particularly susceptible. In the past, lead in drinking water has been traced to faucets and other brass plumbing fixtures.

At a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, the state attorney general’s office and two environmental groups, the Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council, said they were filing a lawsuit to block further sales of brass well pumps in California.

In their lawsuit, the environmental groups, who sponsored the testing, demand that pump manufacturers replace brass pumps with plastic or stainless steel equipment.

At the news conference, Deputy Atty. Gen. Ed Weil said two pump manufacturers have agreed to stop selling brass well pumps in the state and that one of the manufacturers is recalling all stock from suppliers.

A spokesman for one manufacturer, Sta-Rite Industries of Delavan, Wis., confirmed that the company is replacing its California stock with pumps that meet state standards. Rick Heine, the firm’s communications manager, said that the company had no plans to stop selling brass pumps in other states.

Heine said tests by Sta-Rite indicated that the firm’s brass pumps met federal standards for lead contamination but did not pass muster under California’s tougher standards. Under federal law, the maximum contamination limit for lead in drinking water is 15 parts per billion, while in California the limit is 0.5 parts per billon.

Moreover, under Proposition 65--the Safe Drinking Water and Toxics Enforcement Act--California officials have more regulatory authority than most other states and more than the federal government, which has no jurisdiction over private water systems.

Regarded as one of the most dangerous forms of toxic contamination, lead has been the target of several lawsuits by Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren against makers of ceramic tableware, lead-foil wine bottle caps, crystal decanters and residential faucets.

The potential for well water contamination in California, where only about 1% of the population gets its water from private wells, is far less than in many other states. In some states, as much as 30% of the population depends on water from private wells.

According to U.S. census figures, more than 12 million American families draw their drinking water from private wells. The majority of these wells are in the South and Midwest. About half of those wells are believed to be powered by underwater pumps that can leach directly into the water supply.

Spokesmen for the two environmental groups said that only a small minority of the submersible pumps in use are made without brass parts.

The latest study found that the most commonly used pumps in household wells contaminate drinking water up to 500 times greater than safe limits under federal law and thousands of times of what is permissible in California.

“They are giant time-release capsules for lead,” said David Roe of the Environmental Defense Fund, referring to the brass pumps.

The 30-day laboratory study of four brass pumps revealed initial high levels of contamination--nearly 8,000 parts per billion in one pump--that dropped significantly over the first few days, but at a low of 223 parts per billion was still well above safe drinking water levels by the end of that period. A fifth stainless steel pump that did not contain brass had lead levels of 1.7 on the first day to 0.5 by the 30th day.

Richard P. Maas, director of the University of North Carolina’s Environmental Quality Institute, which did the testing, said additional tests will be necessary to show whether pumps in use for long periods continue to be a hazard.

EPA officials said that although they found no reason to doubt the test results, it was unclear whether water moving through a well would be contaminated to the same degree as standing water in a laboratory setting.

“We would want to know how much leaching occurs in a real-life situation,” said Linn Goldmann, EPA’s assistant secretary for prevention, pesticides and toxic substances. “Is it an episodic burst of lead coming through or is it persistent. Until we know more, we think it’s advisable for anyone with a pump that was installed in the last year to get it tested.”

Goldmann added: “To our knowledge, this is the first time anyone has looked at the problem. This finding is the first indication we’ve had that pumps might be a hazard. It stands to reason there would be a problem because we’ve seen it before in the same type of brass.”

The EPA has made available two toll-free telephone numbers to call with questions about drinking water and lead: (800) 426-4791 and (800) 424-LEAD. Also, the National Resources Defense Council, with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the Oakland-based Environmental Defense Fund can provide the names of laboratories that will test well water. The tests cost from $15 to $30, according to Meyerhoff. The cost of a new, lead-free pump ranges from $200 to $300, he said.