Page 8 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

How to reduce your lead exposure at home

By Sarah Shurge water)
When someone hears there is • Check whether your home has
lead in their drinking water, panic a lead service line.
tends to set in. General questions
usually are: how much lead? Am I at Additional information/help:
risk for health problems? What can The City of Wayne DPW plans to
I do to protect myself? send a public education document
The City of Wayne Department of about lead in drinking water. They
Public Works (DPW) conducts peri- also will be collecting sixty sites
odic testing of tap water in homes for every six months and reviewing the
lead and copper. They recently col- results to determine if the level’s are
lected tap water samples from 30 below the action level.
homes in Wayne. On October 12th, If you want to get your blood lead
The City of Wayne released a public level tested, you may go through
advisory regarding the City of your healthcare provider or make an
Wayne’s water sampling of lead and appointment with the Wayne County
copper. Health Department’s Clinic at
(734)727-7100.
What to know: If you’re looking for more infor-
Under Michigan’s Safe Drinking mation about lead, visit
Water Act, 90% of samples collected ci.wayne.mi.us or Michigan.gov/egle-
must fall below 15 parts per billion leadpublicadvisory or
(ppb). Five out of the 30 sites were Michigan.gov/MILeadSafe.
found to have levels of 16 ppb, which If you would like free water test-
is over the Action Level. This level is eral hours, run the water before • Do not use hot water for drink- ing for lead, call the MDHHS Drink-
not a health-based standard, so ad- using it for drinking or cooking. This ing, preparing food, or cooking, or ing Water Hotline at (844)934-1315.
ditional action must take place and flushes lead-containing water from preparing baby formula. If you have questions regarding
the City of Wayne DPW increased in- the pipes. Additional flushing may • Do not boil your water. (Boiling lead and copper, contact the City of
vestigative sampling of water quality. be required for homes that have will not reduce the amount of lead in Wayne DPW at (734)721-8600.
Water sampling in the City of been vacant or have a longer service
Wayne measured levels of copper at line.
0.2 parts per million (ppm) for both
2021 and 2020 and 0.1 ppm for How to reduce exposure:
2019. Lead levels were measured at In accordance with the Michigan
12 ppb in 2020 and 14 ppb in 2019. Safe Drinking Water Act, the follow-
The goal for lead in drinking ing are examples of methods the City
water is 0 ppb considering there is of Wayne DPW listed for you to re-
no safe level of lead in the blood. duce your exposure to lead in drink-
Lead can cause serious health prob- ing water.
lems if too much enters your body • Run your water to flush out
from drinking water. lead-containing water.
However, human skin does not • If you do not have a lead service
easily absorb lead from water so line, run the water for 30 seconds to
even if you have lead in your drink- two minutes, or until it becomes cold
ing water, you can use water that has or reaches a steady temperature.
not been filtered for showering, • If you do have a lead service
cleaning, or washing hands, dishes, line, run the water for at least five
or clothes. minutes to flush
The City of Wayne DPW explained water from your home or build-
that lead can enter drinking water ing’s plumbing and the lead service
when in contact with pipes, solder, line.
home/building interior plumbing, fit- • Clean your faucet aerator to re-
tings and fixtures that contain lead. move trapped debris.
Homes with lead service lines have • Consider using a filter to re-
an increased risk of having high lead duce lead in drinking water. (Note:
levels in drinking water. Of the ap- The Department of Health and
proximate 5,950 customers in the Human Services (DHHS) recom-
city, 6.75% (about 400 customers) mends that any household with a
have lead service lines. child or pregnant woman use cold
The more time water has been sit- water and a certified lead filter to re-
ting in your home’s pipes, the more move lead from their drinking water,
lead it may contain. Therefore, if especially when preparing baby for-
your water has not been used for sev- mula.)
8 · November 2021 · The Wayne Dispatch