A customer called today who has .018 mg/l of lead in his well water. The EPA action level is .015 mg/l but the target for all individuals is zero. A review of this fellow’s water report showed that his water also contains copper and zinc and has a pH of 5.3. Therefore it is likely that it is the low pH that is dissolving his brass fixtures and producing the lead, copper, and zinc in his water.
Water softeners can reduce or eliminate lead but this customer has no hardness so a softener will only increase his pH problems.
My suggestion is to raise the pH of the water using a whole house acid neutralizer. An acid neutralizer uses media that raises the pH of the water as it enters the home. That will eliminate the aggressiveness of the water and stop any leaching of metals from the fixtures.
This customer would like to remove lead from the whole house also. It is possible that low pH is dissolving any brass in his pump or that there is lead in his well water. In this case, the options are difficult, mostly because lead can either be in particulate form or dissolved. These would each require different treatment methods.
While not normally recommending a whole house water filter that uses carbon or carbon and KDF media, in this case I would suggest this as the KDF will attract the ionic lead and the carbon will provide a physical barrier.
The other option is to install small micron carbon block filters at each drinking water location, but this is only necessary if the lead is coming from his well water and not just a result of low pH dissolving his fixtures.
When dissecting a well water contaminant issue it is important to have a thorough well water test so that you can correctly diagnose the problem and provide the correct water treatment system.
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