Consumers in No Hurry to Get Lead Out Of Tap Water

After seeing the recent headlines about excessive lead in thedrinking water of Chicago suburbs, thousands of worried consumersrushed out to buy filters and bottled water, right?

Wrong.

Even though the lead content exceeded new federal standards,there's been no rush away from the tap.

"We have not made a single sale as a result of it," says ScottCrawford of Bensenville-based U.S. Water Works, which sells treatmentequipment. "There's been very, very little response."

Chicago area Culligan dealers took a more aggressive approach,launching an ad campaign that offered free testing of water for lead.But fewer than 25 responded to it, and many of those had lead levelsbelow the new standards, says Charlie Forness of Greater ChicagoCulligan in Wheeling.

"There was a slight response," he says. "Very slight."

At Hinckley & Schmitt, a big Chicago bottled-water company, "Wedid have some increase in sales the same day the media stories hit,but I wouldn't say it was a tremendous upsurge," says spokeswomanDebbie Lawrence.

How many new customers?

"No more than 10," she says. "We had more of a response whenthe Iraqi war was on and people were afraid (Iraqi ruler SaddamHussein) was going to put cyanide in the water."

That cyanide scare illustrates a point made by Lawrence andothers - the media seem to constantly report so many new hazards inevery mundane aspect of life that consumers are tired of worrying.

"People are just so bombarded with everything these days," saysCrawford, of U.S. Water Works. "Unless they know they have a problemor someone gets sick from it, they don't do anything. It's justanother worry among many."

Lately, that's particularly true of drinking water. The reportsabout lead levels in July were followed by other reports about thedangers of chlorine in the water, says Larry Rogers of Puro FilterCorp. in Chicago. It all contributes to "a mentality thatsomething's going to get you sooner or later," he says.

In fact, lead is worth worrying about, particularly foryoungsters and pregnant women. Chronic, low-level exposure can causepermanent learning disabilities and hyperactive behavior in children,and even more damage in developing fetuses.

The Environmental Protection Agency is crusading against lead inwater, imposing stricter limits and forcing communities across thenation to conduct tests, in part because of its success controllinglead elsewhere. Lead-based paint and leaded gasoline, big sources oflead exposure in the past, are now banned. Another source, leadsolder used in food cans, is becoming very rare as well.

As for cleaning up water that contains lead, the bad news isthat simple charcoal filters don't do the job.

Reverse-osmosis systems are effective, but they're moreexpensive, work slowly and leave the water with a flat taste. Thesame goes for distillers, which also are hard to maintain and costlyto operate. Special anti-lead filters are available, but they tendto have limited capacities.

The best hope may come from municipal water departments, whichare now adding anti-corrosion chemicals that help prevent lead fromleaching into the water from pipes and plumbing solder. Meanwhile,consumers are being advised to simply run the faucet for a fewminutes in the morning to clear out water that sat in the pipesovernight.

Another round of tests is scheduled over the next six months to see if the municipal measures are effective. If they're not, andlead levels remain high, a second round of publicity might finallystimulate the sales of filters and bottled water that were expected with the first, says Puro Filter's Rogers.For both the consumers and the sales personnel, he says, "It's await-and-see approach."