Yesterday Erin Goeres at Women’s Health magazine blogged about something I’ve always questioned: is there anything wrong with using hot water from the tap when you’re going to be boiling it? Now I always thought the cold-water-for-boiling phenomenon had something to do with either taste or speed of boiling (not that that would make sense… hmm…). But as it turns out, the New York Times reports, there’s a much bigger problem in the picture here: lead contamination.
Evidently plumbing pipes (especially in older homes, but even in brand-new ones) can contain lead, and hot water running through those pipes towards your tap is more likely to dissolve the lead and bring it on out to your kettle than is cold water. And if you think that boiling the water will remove the lead, think again: the story says that boiling can actually make the lead more concentrated.
Now Brita claims its filters help get rid of the lead in water, but if, as the Times article says, “even newer plumbing advertised as ‘lead-free’ can still contain as much as 8 percent lead,” I’m not sure I exactly trust anything but good ol’ cold water.
(Or–dare I name that taboo product?–bottled water.)
Tags: boiling, cold water, hot water, lead contamination, tap water
June 24, 2009 at 8:27 pm |
It’s so important that people understand some key things about lead… an amount as tiny as the equivalent of 3 granules of table sugar can cause permanant damage to the brain of an unborn child… we know this damage as
ADHD, learning disabilities, low IQ.
Hot tap water should absolutely be avoided for consumption, but cold water faucets should always be flushed thoroughly, and water filtered when possible.
Test your water sources – as the article says, don’t rely on terms like “lead-free” to inform you if you are actually free of lead.
Also, don’t make the common assumption that “new” is safe. This is strictly not the case.