The house I live in now was built in the early 50’s. We have a wonderful deep freestone well but we don’t drink the water that comes through the pipes because we don’t know if the old pipes were ever replaced or not.
I have a PUR filter in the kitchen that is supposed to remove lead, but we drink bottled water. I filter my dogs’ water in the kitchen.
We had the water tested when we bought the old farm, and it didn’t show any contamination by the pipes but still....not doing it. I have been under the house inspecting things and the pipes look like galvanized.
We know the wiring was replaced about 40 years ago, but we don’t know about the pipes. Of course, the wiring is old now. We have been here since 1989. Almost 70-year-old farmhouses are fun.
I remember the tests for lead in the ghettos. They were trying to explain the low IQs and learning disabilities of so many people that lived and grew up there. Old rural housing can be just as bad even if it’s not low-income people.
Lead poisoning is definitely true.
Regarding lead and plumbing and electrical - yes, lead/tin solder was used extensively in homes with copper plumbing for decades. My house, built around 2000 has soldered copper piping, but I’m not really sure of the lead content - some time in the fairly recent past, lead-based solder was replaced with other metals for use in plumbing.
Lead was desirable for its longevity and low melting temperature - soldering can be done at a MUCH lower temperature than welding. And, a properly soldered pipe joint supposedly had no lead contact with the water inside. The solder flowed freely in the cleaned portion of the pipe, which should not be in contact with where the water flows. “should”...
Regarding electrical, there hasn’t been much in the way of soldered connections in house wiring in a long time. If your electrical was redone in the late 80s, it is almost certain to have not involved lead.
Where lead was extensively used in the electric power industry was with older underground cabling, such as that found in many older cities. In Cleveland Ohio, we used lead sheathing to protect the insulation and interior conductors in our distribution cables under downtown. And a LOT of that is still in service. I remember watching, back in the mid 80s, an underground cable guy building a “pothead” (termination where the underground cable exits the ground and attaches to above ground conductors). He had a small pot with a little burner under it and would “paint” layers of lead over the finished terminal with a wire brush of some sort. Think of that - working with a pot of molten lead every day. Not good.
One of the interesting things about water running through 'undisturbed' lead pipe is that mineral deposits build up on the inside of the pipe, which means not as much lead will leach through into the water. Hot water will allow more lead leaching and acidic water certainly creates problems with the lead too.
The problem with lead in Flint Michigan had more to do with the water source. As I understand it, the city changed where their water supply came from and didn't fully test it first.
