IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i3p266-d64676.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of Lead Release in a Simulated Lead-Free Premise Plumbing System Using a Sequential Sampling Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Ding-Quan Ng

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576, Singapore)

  • Yi-Pin Lin

    (Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan)

Abstract

In this pilot study, a modified sampling protocol was evaluated for the detection of lead contamination and locating the source of lead release in a simulated premise plumbing system with one-, three- and seven-day stagnation for a total period of 475 days. Copper pipes, stainless steel taps and brass fittings were used to assemble the “lead-free” system. Sequential sampling using 100 mL was used to detect lead contamination while that using 50 mL was used to locate the lead source. Elevated lead levels, far exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value of 10 µg·L −1 , persisted for as long as five months in the system. “Lead-free” brass fittings were identified as the source of lead contamination. Physical disturbances, such as renovation works, could cause short-term spikes in lead release. Orthophosphate was able to suppress total lead levels below 10 µg·L −1 , but caused “blue water” problems. When orthophosphate addition was ceased, total lead levels began to spike within one week, implying that a continuous supply of orthophosphate was required to control total lead levels. Occasional total lead spikes were observed in one-day stagnation samples throughout the course of the experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Ding-Quan Ng & Yi-Pin Lin, 2016. "Evaluation of Lead Release in a Simulated Lead-Free Premise Plumbing System Using a Sequential Sampling Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:3:p:266-:d:64676
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/3/266/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/3/266/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Howard W. Mielke, 2016. "Editorial: Lead Risk Assessment and Health Effects," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-3, June.
    2. Xuemeng Sun & Xiaoping Li & Dongying Liu & Tao Yang & Yanan Zhao & Ting Wu & Yue Cai & Yuwei Ai & Xu Zhang & Jiwen Wang & Rui Yang & Hongtao Yu & Howard W. Mielke, 2018. "Use of a Survey to Assess the Environmental Exposure and Family Perception to Lead in Children (<6 Years) in Four Valley Cities, Northwestern China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-26, April.
    3. Wai Ling Lee & Jie Jia & Yani Bao, 2016. "Identifying the Gaps in Practice for Combating Lead in Drinking Water in Hong Kong," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:3:p:266-:d:64676. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.