Lead Levels in Vacant House Well

[MissJenny]

Hey There --

My husband and I are under contract on a home with a private well. Being city dwellers, we don't know a single thing about wells.

The home has been vacant for a couple of years. We had the water tested and it came back fine, except with a lead level of 40ppb, which is well above the accepted limit.

How much of that result could be because the water had been sitting for a while?

The water was tested at the well itself. The guy did flush the water for several minutes, but not sure if that is enough.

I have a baby girl and I'm terrified of risking her drinking lead-contaminated water, but at the same time I know water that hasn't been used in years probably isn't a fair measure. Though like I said he did flush the water.

Also, the guy couldn't get a good look at the well pump itself because it was too deep or underwater or something (I told you I know nothing), but he said it looked like it was all original to the house (which was built in the 60s). What is the average life expectancy for well components?

We are going to be closing on this house next week and I'm super anxious about getting stuck with a huge, expensive problem.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Reach4]

The home has been vacant for a couple of years. We had the water tested and it came back fine, except with a lead level of 40ppb, which is well above the accepted limit.

http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/lead.cfm says the action level is 0.015 which is 15 ppb. One section is "How can I reduce lead in drinking water at home?"

If flushing the system does not drop the lead a lot, you might consider getting a reverse osmosis (RO) system or using bottled water for drinking and cooking.

If you get an RO system, you would want the incoming water to that system to be softened water.

There are also backwashing filters, including those using Katalox Light media, that can reduce lead as well as iron, sulfur and some other things. I don't know the numbers.

 

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[Ballvalve]

You are under contract and have all the power to extend the escrow period and have the owner discover the source of the lead contamination and repair it. I would pump that well for 3 or 4 hours at full throttle. First to be sure of it's capacity, then to get rid of the gunk and materials that have dissolved into the water as it sat unused. Retest. Where are you? next to a lead mine or smelter? City and state? Call the health department and inquire about your lead levels and any known contaminants in the area. LAST resort, reduce the price enough to install the contaminant reducing devices and a lifelong job of maintenance.

 

[Craigpump]

Maybe the house has been vacant because of the lead levels. If you're apprehensive about the lead, just think about how potential buyers will feel when you want to sell.

 

[MissJenny]

According to the health department, the house doesn't have a history of showing lead contamination in the water. But I did a little research and it does suggest that older well components can leach lead into the water.

You are right that, at the very least, we need to extend the escrow period long enough to properly re-test.

 

[Craigpump]

Ah yes, the Goulds pump lead scare from the '90's. Just about anyone in the pump, well and plumbing business will confirm that was a bunch of BS, basically a witch hunt.

Lead based brass pumps exposed to water with very low ph can give off some lead but I've never heard of anyone getting lead poisoning from a pump. However, one way to determine if that's the case in this well is to pull the pump and see what brand it is and how old it is, it's possible there is a newer, all stainless pump already installed. Then, I would have the well guy temporarily install a stainless or plastic pump, pump the well for a few days and retest. I would probably then let the well sit idle for a week and retest and then compare the two last tests.

I would insist that the seller absorb the expenses.

 

[Ballvalve]

Pump it for a few days at its claimed gallon per hour rate, then retest. Also flush out the piping system by letting all the fixtures run at a very slow rate. I would then take my sample at the kitchen sink. Unless this property is in a bidding war, yo have plenty of time to make your case and perhaps reduce the price.

 

[Valveman]

Ah yes, the Goulds pump lead scare from the '90's. Just about anyone in the pump, well and plumbing business will confirm that was a bunch of BS, basically a witch hunt.

I think that was actually the "Grundfos lead scare". Since Grundfos makes all stainless steel pumps, several years ago they got a news crew to do a story on the "danger" of lead in brass and iron pumps, thinking they could use it to weed out some competitors. The funny thing was the news got the story wrong and actually said it was the Grundfos pumps that were causing the lead problem. I had been selling Grundfos for many years, and the morning after the news story I must have got 2oo calls worried about being poisoned with lead. They did finally get the name corrected in the news, then all the people who sold pumps other than Grundfos started getting the calls.

That Grundfos marketing gimmick along with a story about kids eating lead paint off of Chinese made toys changed the entire pump and plumbing industry. Lead is not known to leach from metals into water unless you have acidic or hot water. And then it is the acidic or hot water that is the problem, not the small lead content of metals like brass. However, the government jumped at the chance to pass a bunch of rules to make it look like they were trying to "save the good people of their county" from being poisoned by those greedy and unscrupulous plumbing and pump manufactures.

In reality all it did was quadruple the price of pumps and plumbing parts and made manufacturers start producing inferior products. The "low lead" brass that is available today has so much copper content that it turns green like the Statue of Liberty. The green flakes clog up fittings and build up on shafts and cause a lot of problems. So I wonder how long it will be before they figure out all that copper is in the water and start a campaign to rid the world of copper as well?

The only problem with the 5% or 8% leaded brass was that it would last forever. Now the government has that problem solved and the manufacturers can charge several times as much for products that will last several times less than they should.

Many of us have switched to Stainless Steel at an even higher cost. However, the oxidation of Stainless Steel is invisible and SS has 15% Chromium. And by the way acidic water will etch and dissolve SS just like it does any other metal. But at least the government saved us from that nasty old lead.

Even if a pump was made of pure lead, you could grind it up and mix it with the amount of water a pump produces in its lifetime, and it would be so diluted it would be hard to detect. We use to measure in parts per million. But detection has gotten so much better that we can now measure in parts per billion or even more. These PPB numbers make the same products our ancestors lived to their 90's and 100's on sound like pure poison.

 

[Craigpump]

I remember well the morning I saw on the news that the issue was with 10gpm Goulds pumps, LIKE Goulds didn't use brass on the rest of their domestic submersibles.

We were overwhelmed with calls from people wanting their pumps pulled and checked. We were installing
Grundfos pumps at the time so it was a good windfall for us even though it was total BS.

 

[Valveman]

Maybe they did say Goulds. But Goulds/Grundfos sound so much alike most people didn't know the difference. I still got lots of calls even though I was and had been selling Grundfos.

 

[Craigpump]

We see those on occasion. The Franklin motor /Goulds pump was tough to beat.

 

[Valveman]

Funny how nobody ever died early from lead poisoning with all that leaded brass. LOL

 

[MissJenny]

Here are the details for the well: 164 feet, pump hung at 125 feet, static water 33 feet from top of ground (therefore 125 gallons standing), rate of flow 8 gallons/minute.

The guy who inspected it last week said that the water looked stagnant, so I'm guessing the high result was from the water sitting there untouched for two years. The water's ph is 7.3, so it's not too acidic.

Anyway, to prep for the second test, I hooked up a hose to the faucet at the well head yesterday and let it run for 3.5/4 hours. The water guys came this morning and took a sample, then let the water run for a few minutes, then took another sample.

The well is 50 years old and directly where we'll be digging the garage, so it looks like we'll be digging a new well anyway, but it wouldn't hurt to get some money to help pay for it!

 

[Ballvalve]

Funny how nobody ever died early from lead poisoning with all that leaded brass. LOL

Agreed that the valves never hurt anyone. And we all know they don't 'kill' anyone. Unless your wife bangs you on the head from behind with one.

But the houses out east had lead street service lines [lasted FOREVER] and that first shot in the coffee pot in the morning could give you a good Roman dose of future brain death. As you know, we have plenty of problems with American kids having brain death from cell phones and stupid phones and kindles, but to add lead to those toxins, could really be dangerous. Mercury and Lead, we don't need them [except lead makes the BEST flashing for windows and chimneys] but copper and alcohol can replace most of their uses. Remember when we thought we just could not live without lead in our gasoline?