The city water report said 'safe' and my neighbor still bought 40 cases of bottled water, who's actually wrong here? | Behind the Headlines - Vivisector
The city water report said 'safe' and my neighbor still bought 40 cases of bottled water, who's actually wrong here?
Our utility mailed the yearly water quality report in March showing lead levels at 2 ppb, well under the 15 ppb action level, but my neighbor read one viral post about Flint and now won't touch the tap. I get why people don't trust a single number from the same agency that's supposed to be watching the pipes, but nobody in our neighborhood has actually tested their own line from the main to the house. If you've dealt with this, did you pay for your own test or just go by the report?
Lead levels at 2 ppb" sounds fine until you remember Flint's numbers looked fine right up until they didn't. I bought a $40 test kit off Amazon last year mostly because I have a toddler who thinks the garden hose is a snack dispenser, and it came back clean. My neighbor two doors down did the same and his showed elevated copper, old pipes, so now he runs the tap for two minutes every morning like it's some kind of ritual. The report only tells you what's leaving the plant, not what's sitting in the pipe between the main and your sink overnight. Forty cases is overkill, but a $40 test is cheap peace of mind if you're actually worried. You're both kind of right, which is the most annoying possible answer.