Lead-Free? Lead Testing Provides Clarity.

Since 1^st December 2013, the German Drinking Water Ordinance prescribes a threshold value of 0.010 milligram per litre of drinking water for lead. This can only be ensured if the supply pipelines are lead-free. This is the responsibility of the house owner. It is his duty to provide his tenants with unobjectionable drinking water.

Corrosion dissolves the lead slowly from the pipes or fittings. It ends up in the drinking water. If the concentration of lead exceeds the threshold value prescribed in the Drinking Water Ordinance, this can have a negative impact on health, especially for pregnant women and infants. Even low concentrations can influence the blood formation and development of human intelligence in unborn children and infants if consumed regularly.

This can be derived from the age of the real estate. Lead was used as installation material up to around 1970. Because lead is soft, exposed lead pipes can easily be identified. They can be scratched or scraped with a sharp object. Due to their flexibility, the silver-grey lead pipes were laid in curved lines. Other pipe materials such as copper or galvanised steel are much harder and are normally soldered together at right angles. Knocking on lead produces a very dull sound.

Most of the time, the house owner can also provide you with information about the pipe material used.

If there are any lead pipes, these should be replaced as soon as possible. Until this has been done, we recommend that children and pregnant women use bottled water from the shop for drinking and cooking purposes. However, the water can still be used for body care purposes.

Furthermore, we recommend that water tapped from lead pipes is drained off first until it has become noticeably cooler. This will lower the lead content.