Lead water pipes

Lead, plumbum nigrum, its occurrence in connection with silver, its uses in making certain bronzes, for making lead water pipes, and in sheet form, are described by Pliny. Its oxide (Pb 0) is described under the names of molyb-daena, lithargyros, and galena, as the product of roasting lead in the air, and as produced in the furnaces where silver and gold are smelted. White lead (cerussa) and our red lead were also known and described by Pliny, much as by authorities already quoted. 

As the Romans ingeniously introduced lead water pipes, it is likely that their water, carried in these pipes, was contaminated with lead as it still is today, especially in areas of soft or acidic water. The use of lead glazes in pottery and, even more importantly, lead cooking pots were other contributory factors. Thus the lead was dissolved from the surface of the lead pots or from the lead-containing glaze on pottery. Analysis of the bones of Romans from the time of their empire has shown high levels of lead, sufficient to cause lead poisoning. 

Lead was everywhere The lead water pipes of the Roman plumbing system allowed lead to dissolve in the drinking water. Many types of food and drink were sweetened by a thick, sugary syrup called sapa. Sapa was made by boiling wine in a lead pot until much of the water and alcohol had evaporated. What remained was a tasty but poisonous confection. A small portion of sapa was lead(II) acetate, also known as sugar of lead. It was... 

In the good old days, lead water pipes were common and lead was in pewter tableware and in ceramic glazes. Lead arsenate was a pesticide spray on apples and... 

One major source of this lead was the sapa syrup. In addition, the Romans highly advanced plumbing system employed lead water pipes, which allowed lead to be leached into their drinking water. 

I asked my visitor whether the potion was a preparation of the Philosophers Stone, but he replied that I must not be curious. He added presently that at the bidding of his master he took down a piece of lead water-pipe and melted it in a pot, when the master removed some sulphurous powder on the point of a knife from a little box, cast it into the molten lead, and after exposing the compound for a short time to a fierce fire he poured forth a great mass of liquid gold upon the brick floor of the kitchen. 

The same information can also be used to predict which metals may dissolve in acid rain. For example, both lead and tin can enter the water supply in acid rain areas, and, for the same reason, acidic water will react with lead water pipes. 

Lead incorporated into the body can have severe effects on the kidneys and the nervous system. Over time, an excess amount of lead leads to a decline of health and to neurological disruptions. It is thought that one of the contributing causes to the decline of the Roman Empire was the widespread use of lead water pipes among the upper classes. Over time, the ruling classes became less able to rule, less vigorous, and the civilization declined. 

So many industrial and commercial uses have been found for Pb that it is difficult to list them all. The main uses of Pb which are most relevant to environmental contamination and human exposure are lead-based indoor paints, lead water pipes, lead solder in cans for storing food, and leaded gasoline additives these have either since been banned or are in the process of being banned. Action is also being taken with respect to lead glazes on pottery and ceramics, lead in... 

Troesken, W. (2006). The great lead water pipe disaster. MIT Press. 

The possible link between lead water pipes and Michael Caller s death did not generate universal concern. In its reporting on the case, the New York Times said nothing about lead water pipes, and the paper s published accounts do not even include the comments by Ogden Doremus linking Caller s lead intake to the city s use of lead pipes.The New York Herald did consider the broader implications of Michael Caller s death, however, and raised these issues in an editorial shortly after the... 

The idea that lead water pipes contributed to Michael Caller s death raises at least two important questions. First, if Michael Caller had been exposed to unhealthy amounts of lead, why had his doctor failed to observe any of the more common symptoms of lead poisoning On this score, one is tempted to challenge the competence of Caller s doctor, Marlin Dupuis. Perhaps Dupuis missed something important. By his own admission, Dupuis had never completed medical school, and the autopsy of Caller s corpse revealed no evidence of a bleeding ulcer, which Dupuis had originally identified as the cause of death. There was evidence that Dr. Dupuis was unable to write his own name. And a twenty-first-century observer cannot help but wonder about the so-called medicines administered to Caller ammonia and sulphuric acid. But by the standards of 1870, Caller s medical treatment was not all that bad most doctors at this time used chemicals like ammonia and sulphuric acid in an effort to reduce fevers and destroy pathogenic agents. 

A few observations highlight the popularity of lead water pipes. Table... 

Lead water pipes were not a uniquely American phenomenon. Table... 

Cape Town s history prompts many questions. Was the city s water-lead problem an aberration If not, how common was the problem in other cities around world On the one hand, the popularity of lead water pipes (see tables 1.1 and 1.2) suggests that most city governments did not consider water-related exposure to lead a serious concern. On the other hand, recent events in Washington, D.C., and Glasgow, Scotland, suggest that water-related lead poisoning was probably not limited to Cape... 

Looming behind all of the questions about the health effects of lead water pipes is a more fundamental question. Even water like Cape Town s, which contained lead levels 3-500 times greater than the modern EPA standard, still carried a tiny amount of lead in absolute terms, an amount imperceptible to the naked human eye. EIow could such a small amount of lead have had any impact on human health The assumption that the EPA standard is reliable, and that water with lead levels above that standard is unsafe, presumes that the EPA standard is itself an accurate indicator of safety. But what is the scientific basis for the EPA standard Is it possible that the EPA standard is unduly strict If not, what sorts of scientific evidence exist to support the claim that even very small amounts of lead might pose a threat to human health These basic questions mandate a review of the relevant literatures in biochemistry and toxicology. 

There are also many questions surrounding the how and why of lead water pipes. What prompted city officials in Cape Town, and most other large cities, to use lead water pipes in the first place Were alternative piping materials such as iron or cement-line pipe that much more expensive or otherwise unattractive Were public officials unaware of the dangers of lead Was the scientific and medical literature on lead so underdeveloped that one could not predict that lead water pipes could... 

Third, the decision by public authorities to install lead pipes, and to continue to use them despite serious public health consequences, resulted from a complex interplay of social forces and scientific conventions. For human societies to adapt and respond to environmental problems in constructive ways, they first need to be aware that there is a problem. The difficulty for those concerned with lead contaminated water supplies is that historically such awareness was limited (though certainly not entirely absent). As explained in later chapters, officials in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used the health of adults and older children to assess the effects and dangers of lead water pipes. Simply put, if many... 

The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster draws heavily from traditional historical sources, including government reports and investigations, important legal cases, articles from nineteenth-century medical journals, books... 

Ask people today to list the greatest environmental disasters of the last two hundred years and most would focus on recent events such as Chernobyl, Bhopal, the destruction of the rainforest, or Love Canal. More historically minded individuals might also mention the Industrial Revolution, the diversion and destruction of natural lakes and rivers to provide water to large cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, or the introduction of the automobile. Whatever the merits of these claims, almost no one would mention the introduction of lead water pipes as a significant event in environmental history. Yet lead water pipes killed or harmed many more people than were injured by events in Bhopal, India, or... 

---