On 28/08/2014 07:40, harryagain wrote:
"Tim Streater" wrote in message
.. .
In article , Arfa Daily
wrote:

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...

2) Drinking water.

This is another debatable area. For a very long time, water was supplied
through lead pipes. Indeed, the house that I lived in as a kid had lead
pipe-work, as did most others that I knew, and as I'm sure many still do.
Did it give us all brain damage ? Considering the apparent intelligence
of our generation compared to the last couple, I would have said not.
That being the case when the water flowed through fully lead pipes, I'm
not sure how you justify the validity of removing lead from soldered
copper joints that are not basically in contact with the water anyway.

Won't it depend on the pH of the water? It's a question of the extent
to which the lead dissolves. There is a school of though that says that
lead in the water did for the Romans.

The Romans made drinking vessels out of lead.
Also lead pipes for water.


They also used lead acetate as a sweetener, which may have more to do
with the problem than the tiny amount of lead that even soft water
leaches out of plumbing. Lead drinking containers are in contact with
fluid for so little time that you'd be hard pushed to detect any lead
from that source, even in a paranoid laboratory. Lead from pipework is
also easily cleared from the water by letting the tap run for a few
seconds before filling a container, as recommended by most water
suppliers where lead pipes are still used as feeders for homes.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.