[HN Gopher] Minnesota map to find out if your home's drinking wa...
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Minnesota map to find out if your home's drinking water comes
through lead pipe
Author : gnabgib
Score : 67 points
Date : 2024-11-05 18:31 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.startribune.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.startribune.com)
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| https://maps.umn.edu/LSL/
| semi-extrinsic wrote:
| Same but for Washington DC: https://www.dcwater.com/about-dc-
| water/media/news/dc-water-r...
|
| As a European visiting DC this August, I was shocked (among other
| things) by a) the city being so empty it felt like a zombie
| apocalypse, b) advertisements for this map to check if your water
| contains lead, like you are in a developing country.
| elijaht wrote:
| Where were you in DC? IME the combination of tourism and
| (arguably) acceptable transit makes it feel quite vibrant
| vundercind wrote:
| The wide boulevards and huge open spaces in some of the
| touristy areas can feel empty even when there are a normal
| number of people there. Common problem with planned cities,
| they have way too much empty space and feel abandoned even
| when not.
| ta1243 wrote:
| Lead piping still far too common in the UK.
|
| https://www.ft.com/content/7107f067-43d5-4030-afbc-123da2313...
|
| My boomer neighbours laugh it off - "never did me any harm".
| jeffbee wrote:
| Given the historical trend of blood lead levels, they're
| probably right. Airborne lead is more problematic and it
| wasn't boomers it was Gen X who were poisoned the most.
| toast0 wrote:
| I was in DC in July and it was miserably hot. Looks like August
| wasn't as bad, but Congress was in recess all of August, and
| campaigning was in full swing, so there was a lot of reason for
| people to be elsewhere.
|
| I have to imagine lead in pipes is less of an issue in
| developing countries. Many of them have very little water
| infrastructure and what infrastructure is in developing
| countries tends to be more recent, so it's should be more
| likely to have used other materials than lead pipe.
| bluGill wrote:
| Developing countries are a mix. Some of them have cities that
| have been around for centuries and at some point someone put
| in water (not always for the whole city). Worse, since they
| don't have strong safety standards you cannot be sure that
| pipes put into today don't have lead in them unless you check
| (though odds are if it was done today they used plastic which
| is cheaper, though better depends on if they used a good
| plastic or not which you can't really know)
| kjellsbells wrote:
| > I was in DC in July and it was miserably hot.
|
| That's the regional climate I'm afraid. You get used to it.
| Doesnt help that downtown is built on a low lying swamp,
| theres a giant river as a moisture source, and concrete
| everywhere. Dont let it put you off!
|
| Aug is recess season which matters more than campaign season
| in terms of emptiness. It also means the entire class of
| lobbyists, analysts, journos and hangers on evaporate too.
| Its a good time of year for us locals not in that space.
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| DC--particularly the tourist parts--are extremely exposed. I
| live outside of DC and I couldn't spend more than an hour there
| before abandoning it to go back home due to the heat. There
| were weeks straight of ~95-105degF weather.
| kjellsbells wrote:
| Its interesting to see the contrast between DC and say
| London. London has, like DC: dense traffic along a relatively
| small number of major thoroughfares, a huge number of heat
| masses like concrete office blocks, a subway spilling heat
| onto the street, etc. What really saves London are the vast
| number of remarkably large parks and tree cover. You really
| see the difference walking the city. DC has one big blob of
| mall with little to no tree cover.
|
| Cities are going to have to look at what kinds of shade the
| future is going to need for their populace if summers
| continue to get hotter. Interesting article from the NYT on
| this topic:
|
| Summer in the City Is Hot, but Some Neighborhoods Suffer More
| https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/09/climate/city-.
| ..
| alach11 wrote:
| > What really saves London are the vast number of
| remarkably large parks and tree cover.
|
| I don't disagree that shade is a good idea. But what really
| helps London is it's vastly milder climate [0] caused by
| the Gulf Stream.
|
| [0]
| https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/20957~45062/Comparison-
| of...
| cafard wrote:
| Our house was built in 1931, when they didn't pay attention to
| that sort of thing. The District has long since replaced the
| mains, and now household can get the pipes replaced at the
| city's cost.
|
| People do tend to stay in air conditioning in late summer.
| jeffbee wrote:
| Central DC often empties out when the legislature is in recess.
| It's a great time to visit because the restaurants are empty
| and the hotels are cheaper.
| bluGill wrote:
| Those advertisements are a sign someone cares. If you don't
| have them in your country you should suspect that the locals
| don't care not that you are better - until proven otherwise.
| Water quality is something that needs to be monitored
| regularly, even if you water is safe today if you don't pay
| attention someone can introduce problems tomorrow.
| kjellsbells wrote:
| If anything, lead pipes are a sign of a country that has been
| developed enough to provide mass water services to the
| population for a very long time (decades).
|
| Lead hasnt been used for new pipes in years, but old pipes
| still exist. Paris, France for example has a similar issue:
| lead pipes used up to 1970, finally banned in 1995, but still
| needs testing:
|
| https://www.ac-environnement-paris.com/old_concentration-plo...
| burningChrome wrote:
| Lived in several suburbs in Minnesota.
|
| All three places I lived were fed with well water in copper
| pipes. The closer you get to Minneapolis (even in the bougie
| areas like Lake of the Isles) you see a ton of the infrastructure
| is still served with lead pipes.
| germinalphrase wrote:
| Relevant well water map: PFAS Testing
|
| https://mdh.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=...
| germinalphrase wrote:
| When we purchased our home in Minneapolis, I did the free at home
| water test for peace of mind.
|
| The whole thing was quite easy:
| https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiative...
| jeffbee wrote:
| Given the costs and benefits involved, under what circumstances
| would you not simply run all of your drinking water through a
| Brita filter? They are inexpensive, solve problems aside from
| lead, and solve lead problems that emerged after your test
| (like what happened in Flint).
| bbarnett wrote:
| Brita filters solve lead problems? Carbon alone doesn't do
| it, Brita filters are basically just for taste and large
| particulate matter.*
|
| Brita filters don't typically remove bacteria, viruses, or
| anything truly worrisome from water. If your water is unsafe
| to drink before a Brita jug, it's unsafe after too.
|
| If you want to remove lead, a little brita filter jug won't
| do it. You need reverse osmosis, or maybe a fancy super-
| large, regularly renewed, incredibly expensive filter.
|
| * see followup posts
| zdragnar wrote:
| They do make them and they are readily available:
|
| https://www.brita.com/products/tahoe-water-pitcher-elite-
| fil...
| bbarnett wrote:
| I've never seen this model before, it seems new to me.
| I'm quite skeptical of its performance.
|
| I can't seem to find anything other than their
| documentation, stating the veracity of their claims. I
| wish I could.
| jeffbee wrote:
| https://www.brita.com/assets/23601607167498ba405a22f7692b
| 3b8...
|
| It would be nice if you updated your original remark. I
| rarely see such a combination of total confidence and
| complete incorrectness, and you're giving advice on a
| health matter.
| bbarnett wrote:
| Thanks just found that, but again that's _their_
| documentation. What were their testing conditions like?
|
| Well anyhow, it does seem like there are filters with
| lead removal, so fair enough.
| willcipriano wrote:
| NSF standards and testing procedures are typically
| something you have to pay for, the procedure can be
| purchased here: https://webstore.ansi.org/standards/nsf/n
| sfansi532023?source...
| kjellsbells wrote:
| Also NSF certification for the NSF53 standard here:
|
| https://info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/Listings.asp?Standard
| =05...
| biorach wrote:
| in fairness I think the burden of proof is on whoever is
| claiming the brita lead filter is safe
| parl_match wrote:
| > It would be nice if you updated your original remark. I
| rarely see such a combination of total confidence and
| complete incorrectness, and you're giving advice on a
| health matter.
|
| You said "Brita filter". Not "Brita Elite filter", which
| is a different brand and not what is included in most
| "Brita" brand filter jugs. Despite you only saying "Brita
| filter", not all Brita-brand filters are the same.
|
| It would be nice if you updated your original remark to
| say Brita Elite. :)
|
| I rarely see such a combination of total smugness and
| incorrectness, and you're making us all stupider for it.
| jjulius wrote:
| And I rarely see such a rush to judge someone so harshly
| over something so relatively innocuous. Setting aside the
| fact that it's OK for someone to be wrong and for us to
| correct them in a _constructive_ manner, I 'm not even
| sure that that user being wrong is so dangerous to one's
| health, as the end of your comment implies.
|
| Now, if the user had said something to the effect of,
| "Bleach and ammonia are perfectly fine to mix together, I
| am not aware of any documentation that suggests
| otherwise," then, yes, that is a tremendously dangerous
| thing to tell someone and reasonable people should
| absolutely call them out for spreading FUD. But what
| happened here is different.
|
| The user simply said, "Hey, I don't know that these kinds
| of filters can actually work to remove lead". That's it.
| Anybody reading this, who is concerned that there may be
| lead in their water, isn't at any greater risk of
| consuming it now than they were prior to reading the
| user's statement.
| autokad wrote:
| I use the brita elite filter. its about 30$ for 2 of them
| and they last 6 months.
|
| https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MU7973W
| germinalphrase wrote:
| Despite the risk implied by the existence of this water
| quality mapping, Minneapolis and Saint Paul have some of the
| highest metropolitan tap water quality in the nation. The
| concern about lead pipes is local to the individual property,
| so it's wise to test (and understand the age of your
| infrastructure) but the Brita would be a cost without a
| benefit in my case. The water is clean, and I've personally
| assured that through lab testing.
| plorg wrote:
| At least in St Paul they are actively replacing lead
| service lines in whole neighborhoods at a time. The line
| replacement itself is free although there may be some costs
| and logistical hurdles to the homeowner to prepare the
| house and get the existing line inspected.
| chrisbrandow wrote:
| a water test is the only reliable way to know if the lead pipe to
| your house is a problem. typically they get coated internally,
| and barring water acidity levels a la Flint, there is no
| leaching.
|
| But either way, testing the water itself will give you the real
| story.
| prvc wrote:
| What sort of tests are available?
| candiddevmike wrote:
| Talk to your local county health department, most have water
| test kits or laboratories they can put you in touch with.
| ttyprintk wrote:
| This could be rolled out nationally soon. Our lead service line
| survey was due Oct 16th.
| SapporoChris wrote:
| It's wonderful that these maps exist. It's also great that
| residents can take the initiative to get their dwellings tap
| water tested. It'd be even better if the local government did
| random sample testing of residential tap water. Since this is a
| local thing, it is a change that can be done through local
| government.
| dangobanned wrote:
| I am not sure why Minnesota is a state. It should be a province.
| Most population is a foreign from a terrible country in Africa or
| (muh) Nordics. Terrible water. Terrible climate.
|
| State adds no value to the US. Instead, DC or Pueto Rico should
| become a state. I hope next admin makes them a federal territory.
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(page generated 2024-11-05 23:01 UTC)