On 5/26/2017 1:00 PM, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 26 May 2017 12:20:53 +0100, charles
wrote:

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Talking to the water company installing new water mains/meters for the
new build here, it seems my water main in the street is asbestos!!!


http://www.fwr.org/pipeline/dwi0822.htm


so drinking asbestos doesn't harm you apparently.

So why don't they just hose down asbestos when thy pull it out of
buildings? And then chuck it in a pond to get rid of it?

Because the water pipe is made of "asbestos and cement". The asbestos
fibres are bonded inside the cement. Wall boards were also made that way.

Yebbut over time, probably a good many decades, and with many millions
of gallons of water passing through the pipe in that time, the cement
component will slowly erode or dissolve, probably both, and the
asbestos particles will gradually be released. Not in high
concentration, or all at once, but they'll be there, nevertheless.

Well having recently seen the thickness of limescale in a land-drain
taking away spring water (about a centimetre in 4 years) I rather
suspect that asbestos water mains will be OK.

In any case, the problem is inhaling airborn fibres, which end up
forever in the alveoli. I suspect that drinking them is much less harmful.