Lead in Drinking Water

cL0h · 25-09-2008 11:41am

Let me guess. Your "good authority" owns a local supermarket.

sheepeyes wrote: »

Well, I'm not sure what the story is here but I heard tonight on what I consider to be quite a good authority that lead in the pipes isn't the problem, its another bug in the water. This is by no means gospel, but don't be surprised if there is a warning put on all water in and around the city next week. The safest thing is not to drink the water at all, it may cost more but better fork out a few extra quid then fall ill from a bug.

Pgibson · 25-09-2008 11:49am

ValerieR wrote: »

"Residents in Galway on boiling notice".

They meant that the Galway Councillors might be boiled alive by the residents of Galway.

.

ValerieR · 25-09-2008 11:52am

Bass Cadet wrote: »

You'll probably be waiting a month or so for the work-shy jouno's to cop onto that one

Unless they read boards.ie !

renedescartes · 25-09-2008 12:36pm

Hi,
I feel that it is almost certain that this problem exists all over the country as the infrastructure is lead pipes in many areas. to say your house was built in the 1990s so I am ok may not be correct as it depends on the supply mains. So two issues arise ;

1. Is there any Governament agency obligated to check the quality of delivered water?

2. Does the filtering systems, Jug type or the piped type eliminate this problem?

cheers

sheepeyes · 25-09-2008 4:12pm

cL0h wrote: »

Let me guess. Your "good authority" owns a local supermarket.

No, not at all. A friend who is connected with the council.

_Whimsical_ · 25-09-2008 7:22pm

renedescartes wrote: »

1. Is there any Governament agency obligated to check the quality of delivered water?cheers

The Department of the Environment is responsible as far as I know.I think it's the householders responsibility to fix pipes located inside a home however.That might be different in county council owned houses.

renedescartes wrote: »

2. Does the filtering systems, Jug type or the piped type eliminate this problem?

cheers

The RTE lunchtime news reported that a local company who fitted filter systems on tap water in the city said their system did eliminate lead from the water. The HSE responded to that by saying that they could not confirm this as to their knowledge the abilty of these systems to clear lead from water depended upon the levels of lead. As some homes have 4 times the WHO approved levels of lead polution I'd say you'd be better off not risking it.

nbznut · 25-09-2008 8:46pm

my partner just popped in garage and asked for litre bottle of water and the guy replied lead or unleaded !!!!!!!!!!!:pac::pac::pac:

renedescartes · 25-09-2008 8:52pm

Thanks Chilly,

I have an idea this is much bigger then what is being reported.

The EPA published a report in 2007 based on sampling done I presume in 2006 and there were failures in the sampling due to lead. These failures were in areas other then Galway. It seems to me this problem being in Galway is due to the past problems there and the priority of testing water in Galway.

Also there is a new EU limit for lead comming into place in Dec 2008 and all Councils have been asked to identify all lead pipe water mains.

As I said I think this problem is more wide spread.

Mrs OBumble · 25-09-2008 9:18pm

renedescartes wrote: »

As I said I think this problem is more wide spread.

Me to.

What's really exercising my mind is how the HSE came to be testing for lead in water in individual houses. I can understand water-quality testing in public supplies, but if someone knocked on my door and said they were here to test the water, I'd assume that they were one of the water filter companies doing some "market research" and give them an answer involving sex and travel.

(I don't know about here, but the filter companies really were pulling stunts like this in Co Cork last year: first they sent you a letter referring to their recent tests on your supply, then they sent a sales-rep to your door to repeat the test. Then the sales spiel started.)

Now it seems that the HSE has been testing inside houses. So there must be more to the story - something has prompted them to do this.

renedescartes · 25-09-2008 9:42pm

Hi Justmary,
Yout local Council are supposed to be testing the water on a regular basis to ensure it meets EU laid down standards. The guys in galway after what they have been through in the past are it seems more vigilant then the rest of the country and hey presto the problem surfaces in Galway. The sad thing is that nobody is asking the hard questions.....Has any other Council found lead contamination in the water?..........the answer is yes!

Krieg · 27-09-2008 10:49pm

Last week our dog died of kidney failure, 4 days later our neighbours dog died of kidney failure. Right now Im calling it coincidence

anyone able to tell me when housing in Renmore was built?

ive read their leaflet and I am unable to view our pipes due to the way the house was constructed. regardless we are on bottled water

_Whimsical_ · 28-09-2008 2:11am

Sorry to hear about your dog Krieg.

It was on the news tonight that the outdoor "safe water" system set up this week in the Mervue area was also contanimated with 4 times the EU acceptable level of lead. A Galway city councillor on the news said that this water supply had been plumbed directly from cast iron piping. If that's true it raises serious questions about whether you can reasonably blame the piping in the houses for the lead pollution at all.

georgelowden · 29-09-2008 1:31pm

lead pipes were also used in council houses in kerry and as far I know they are still the same .
that would be older type non cavity type houses ,I'm shure the same build is all over the country.
led is bad stuff, it effects the liver, kidneys ,brain .to name a few unessential bits of the body.
As I grew up in one of these flucking things I hope that I can sue the morons .

Bass Cadet · 29-09-2008 2:38pm

22 councils around the country now reporting excessively high levels of lead in water system in certain areas...

chrussell · 29-09-2008 7:40pm

I was fishing in the river the other day and I think I found the source of the lead...

ethernet · 29-09-2008 9:18pm

LOL, but there's no lead in pencils! Are you telling us we also have graphite in the water now as well?

Pgibson · 30-09-2008 8:14am

chrussell wrote: »

I was fishing in the river the other day and I think I found the source of the lead...

Its a bad habit to bite the end of your pencil.

Stop it at once.

.

.

trish23 · 10-10-2008 9:17pm

Crypto, Lead, Legionnaires....Think it's time to head for the hills, lads...

Andrea B. · 11-10-2008 9:09am

.........or if you're the Mayor, grab 5 of your councillor buddies and head to Alicante. Official biz of course

SimpleSam06 · 11-10-2008 5:16pm

Anyone got a link to or email for the people meant to be testing the water? We had an interesting experience with chicken that turned blue under running water the last day...

Andrea B. · 11-10-2008 5:44pm

Anyone got a link to or email for the people meant to be testing the water? We had an interesting experience with chicken that turned blue under running water the last day...

SimpleSam06, that may not be lead related. The chicken might not have been able to breath, and hence turned blue from lack of oxygen?

SimpleSam06 · 12-10-2008 8:10am

Andrea B. wrote: »

SimpleSam06, that may not be lead related. The chicken might not have been able to breath, and hence turned blue from lack of oxygen?

Oooh, I knew there was a chicken choking joke in there somewhere!

galwaybabe · 12-10-2008 9:57am

SimpleSam06 wrote: »

Anyone got a link to or email for the people meant to be testing the water? We had an interesting experience with chicken that turned blue under running water the last day...

What!!!!!!!!

galwaybabe · 12-10-2008 9:59am

As far as I know, the place for getting your water tested is called the Public Analysts's Lab and it is based at NUIG Hospital

Chris_533976 · 12-10-2008 10:23am

The sign for that was always "Public Analysts Laboratory".

Some picked the letters off the sign so that it read "Anal Laboratory"

SimpleSam06 · 12-10-2008 3:35pm

galwaybabe wrote: »

What!!!!!!!!

Yup, a nice royal blue colour, centred around where the water was hitting it. I found that lab by the way, if anyone else is worried.

Galway Public Analyst's Laboratory

Seamus Quirke Road
University College Hospital
Co. Galway
Republic of Ireland

Telephone : 00 353 91 581122
Fax : 00 353 91 581212
Email : publicanalystlab@whb.ie

I'll be giving them a buzz tomorrow to find out how to bottle up some of the water and send it to them.

EDIT: That email address doesn't exist, apparently there is no whb.ie. Brilliant.

SimpleSam06 · 13-10-2008 1:45pm

galwaybabe wrote: »

What!!!!!!!!

Turned out that was copper pipes from the hot tank. You live and learn ha.

Robbo · 13-10-2008 1:54pm

galwaybabe wrote: »

As far as I know, the place for getting your water tested is called the Public Analysts's Lab and it is based at NUIG Hospital

Didn't they say in one of the local papers last week that they were swamped with unsolicited samples from the public and it was stopping them doing more urgent work?

SimpleSam06 · 13-10-2008 3:28pm

Robbo wrote: »

Didn't they say in one of the local papers last week that they were swamped with unsolicited samples from the public and it was stopping them doing more urgent work?

They seemed pretty relaxed when I called them... Still you're right, people should just suck it up and take the lead poisoning like the manliest of men.

s_carnage · 13-10-2008 4:07pm

SimpleSam06 wrote: »

Email : publicanalystlab@whb.ie

EDIT: That email address doesn't exist, apparently there is no whb.ie. Brilliant.

Just change the whb to hse to get the updated e-mail address.

Lead in Drinking Water

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