Lead pipes

[Anonymous]

A friend recently purchased a home in NW DC. She has young kids and a spouse.

She sent out the link (already closed on it) and I looked up to see if it had lead pipes on the DC website. It has confirmed lead pipes. I tell her right?

From what I understand they are moving in and not doing any work. We aren’t super close but she did text me to say they purchased a home. If I had known they were seriously looking I would have reminded her to look on the website.

I don’t want to seem like a weirdo but I always tell people to check and have the water tested when you have young kids. What should I do? Say something to her ? Leave it alone? Just say hey great, make sure to check the DC lead pipes website?

[Anonymous]

Do you know that she doesn’t know this? It’s not an uncommon issue.

https://doee.dc.gov/service/lead-pipe-replacement-and-safer-drinking-water

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know that she doesn’t know this? It’s not an uncommon issue.

https://doee.dc.gov/service/lead-pipe-replacement-and-safer-drinking-water

I don’t know if she knows or not. Where they rented previously she also would just take the tap water straight and give to her kids. I’m not judging just stating!

I mentioned (a couple years ago when she asked what we did when we purchased our home) that we had our water tested, had a plumber in, looked on the DC lead pipes website and even though it came back totally fine and we don’t have lead pipes I filter the water anyway. I also check the water maybe every 12-18 months (I have small kids). Her response was something along the lines of they don’t have lead pipes her landlord would have told them… and that I didn’t need to worry because the seller would tell me. I told her actually a lot of people might not know so you need to check yourself. This was a conversation we had 2 years ago.

I don’t want to be a jerk since her home is beautiful and it’s very exciting for them, but it’s also about safety for her kids…

[Anonymous]

Many lead pipes do not pose a risk and even water filters that claim to filter lead have very limited capacity for doing so.

Basically I don’t think living in DC constitutes a health risk that warrants intervention here.

If you want you can offer her the info on how you got your water tested but otherwise I would chalk this up to the idea that different people have different risk tolerances for various risks.

[Anonymous]

You answered the question when you said you weren't close. This falls firmly into MYOB. Also, why are you looking up casual acquaintances new homes on the lead pipe map? I recommend finding a new hobby.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I would be creeped out if an acquaintance looked up my new house like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend recently purchased a home in NW DC. She has young kids and a spouse.

She sent out the link (already closed on it) and I looked up to see if it had lead pipes on the DC website. It has confirmed lead pipes. I tell her right?

From what I understand they are moving in and not doing any work. We aren’t super close but she did text me to say they purchased a home. If I had known they were seriously looking I would have reminded her to look on the website.

I don’t want to seem like a weirdo but I always tell people to check and have the water tested when you have young kids. What should I do? Say something to her ? Leave it alone? Just say hey great, make sure to check the DC lead pipes website?

I’d tell her to check the website (which btw is outdated— we had an issue recently in our neighborhood where many houses were “green” on the map, indicating replacement, but it later turned out that the records were wrong and all the houses had lead pipes). It’s better to think you have lead pipes and be wrong. I’d also tell her about DC’s free replacement program.

We did the lead replacement program last year and I am SO GLAD we did. I don’t think people take the health risk seriously enough. (Also those brita filters don’t do enough, nor should you rely on a “low” reading to conclude that your pipes are fine- lead levels can fluctuate wildly and so you may get a super low reading in one test but an insane, dangerous level in the next. Ask me how I know….)

https://www.dcwater.com/resources/lead/partners-removing-lead/replacelead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I would be creeped out if an acquaintance looked up my new house like this.

The only reason I looked it up was because we had discussed it years ago and she had no idea about the program or that lead pipes were an issue in DC. She has lived here for 10+ years. We were close years ago and one of her kids has health issues for which she occasionally confides in me about as I have experience with certain health care needs. An extended relative of mine has a child who had health problems due to exposure to lead so I take it seriously.
Thanks for the comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend recently purchased a home in NW DC. She has young kids and a spouse.

She sent out the link (already closed on it) and I looked up to see if it had lead pipes on the DC website. It has confirmed lead pipes. I tell her right?

From what I understand they are moving in and not doing any work. We aren’t super close but she did text me to say they purchased a home. If I had known they were seriously looking I would have reminded her to look on the website.

I don’t want to seem like a weirdo but I always tell people to check and have the water tested when you have young kids. What should I do? Say something to her ? Leave it alone? Just say hey great, make sure to check the DC lead pipes website?

I’d tell her to check the website (which btw is outdated— we had an issue recently in our neighborhood where many houses were “green” on the map, indicating replacement, but it later turned out that the records were wrong and all the houses had lead pipes). It’s better to think you have lead pipes and be wrong. I’d also tell her about DC’s free replacement program.

We did the lead replacement program last year and I am SO GLAD we did. I don’t think people take the health risk seriously enough. (Also those brita filters don’t do enough, nor should you rely on a “low” reading to conclude that your pipes are fine- lead levels can fluctuate wildly and so you may get a super low reading in one test but an insane, dangerous level in the next. Ask me how I know….)

https://www.dcwater.com/resources/lead/partners-removing-lead/replacelead

We have this issue in Burleith and I flagged it to DC Water. I took photos of our water intake line and it has the round bulb that is common on lead pipes. DC Water came out and flagged nearly every house on our block.

The lead lines for our street are in the process of being replaced by the city in the next 4 weeks. The crews are a few blocks up the street and we should have our line replaced by mid June.

I freaked out when I found the lead line. We got our kids tested and they did not have elevated lead levels. I paid around $80 to get our water tested by a laboratory and they found no high levels of lead.

We now use the ultra-high quality Brita Elite filters that are lead rated. Highly recommend them if you live in DC: https://www.brita.com/products/elite-replacement-filters/

[Anonymous]

The dc water website is not always accurate. It was not for our house. Mind your own business.

[Anonymous]

I would tell her. Good realtors and inspectors flag this, but ours didn't. Turned out the map was wrong, but I wish we knew when we bought. The DC replacement program was easy to navigate (although it's not free for everyone - we would have had to pay 1/2).

[Anonymous]

Also - DC has free water testing. We also did that when we moved in and it was easy.

[Anonymous]

We have a lead service line and get our water tested a few times a year as part of a city program. Never have had a positive lead reading (they’ve all been 0). The 100 years of sediment build up keep the water from touching the actual pipes. We also have an under the sink filter for the kitchen, for taste and whatever else DC Water isn’t testing for. DCs are 6 and 9 and both have always had negative lead screenings. Just fingers crossed DC doesn’t pull a Flint and do something crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know that she doesn’t know this? It’s not an uncommon issue.

https://doee.dc.gov/service/lead-pipe-replacement-and-safer-drinking-water

I don’t know if she knows or not. Where they rented previously she also would just take the tap water straight and give to her kids. I’m not judging just stating!

I mentioned (a couple years ago when she asked what we did when we purchased our home) that we had our water tested, had a plumber in, looked on the DC lead pipes website and even though it came back totally fine and we don’t have lead pipes I filter the water anyway. I also check the water maybe every 12-18 months (I have small kids). Her response was something along the lines of they don’t have lead pipes her landlord would have told them… and that I didn’t need to worry because the seller would tell me. I told her actually a lot of people might not know so you need to check yourself. This was a conversation we had 2 years ago.

I don’t want to be a jerk since her home is beautiful and it’s very exciting for them, but it’s also about safety for her kids…

Go back and re-read what you wrote. Yes, you really are. I feel sorry for you that you seem to need to feel superior to make yourself feel better. Move on.

[Anonymous]

Sorry OP, this is nosy and weird. Lead pipes are common in older homes and often do not cause any contamination to the water supply anyway. She’s an adult and can handle it for herself. It would look extremely bizarre to bring this up.