Well, it was quite a good start to the day and then the workmen turned up to fit a stop tap in the road and casually announced we are fed through a lead pipe!!
I suppose I could see the positive... that in having found out I can make a song and dance about getting it changed!
Initial contact with the water company and they state "we have removed all lead from our network" well not my bit you haven't, we have only today got a stop tap! They now seem quite keen to come and test the water and advise 🤷♀️
Has anyone else had a blood test for lead?
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Maybe you have hit the all-too-subtle distinction between mains, communication and service pipes?
Mains are the big ones the run along roads.
Communication pipes are the ones that go from the mains to the individual properties.
And water supply pipes are from the company's stop cock/meter at the boundary into your own stop cock and building supply.
Sometimes it is far from clear exactly what constitutes which! Especially if one communication pipe splits to supply two or more properties.
The water companies have generally made quite a big thing about there being no lead in their networks. But that means very specifically "mains". You could have lead communication and supply pipes. Indeed, the companies likely have nothing better than a guess as to whether these pipes are lead or not.
One of the biggest questions is whether you have hard or soft water? In hard water areas, the build-up of scale can protect the lead from dissolving into the water.
I'll be somewhat surprised if they do not compel you to have a meter.
Thanks for the clarification Helvella.... Hardish water thankfully, it is the communication pipe they have cut into to add a stop tap, so I'm rather more concerned as they have disrupted it 🙄, we live in a lane, so I'd be very surprised if they have changed the main?
Luckily our supplied water is low in lead to start with 🙃
I have received conformation that the pipe is to be replaced... all I had to do was nag constantly, pull up our floor to see that yes we have blue pipe... so where does that change then.... dig up the gravel drive... we do have a stop tap after all... just happened to be under the gate and 4" down!! Photo to prove our blue bit of pipe and pic to show new stop tap fitted about 2 feet way! (Kept other half entertained between Christmas and new year)
Contact their workman who fitted the new tap into the lead pipe and told me "it's lead" as they refused to take my word for it and his picture wasn't good enough quality 🤯 finally got them to speak to him direct!
Lab test showed relatively low but increased lead overnight 1.1 as opposed to 0.4 after running for what felt like an unbearable length of time!
So persistence is essential... seems to be the norm these days with everything 😕
I would say it is possibly one positive side effect of being Hypo and spending a lot of time physically frustrated and resting, offers the down time needed to constantly chase up and nag to get what you need done!
Previously dreaded and avoided call centres hold no fear for me these days... sitting can be quite productive and cathartic, with laptop, phone, radio, book, snacks and a dog or two on your lap you can achieve miracles and move mountains 💪
You can see where writers get their inspiration when the mundane becomes a long running drama 😆
Although we have now had much rain, the idea of drawing off many metres of water pipe content every morning jars with our being instructed to minimise use of water!
Very pleased for you - and we need exactly the same persistence in medical issues!
That sounds like it was loads of 'holiday' fun ..... you guy's really know how to "Do" Christmas
If you want an equally fun game for next Christmas, i can recommend trying to coordinate "an electrician" and "an electricity company" to remove "an extra meter that is connected to some of your circuits, but nobody knows which company was supposed to read it , or who put it in". That's a fun game too
....for 'seasonal fun' this year our water company turned the whole towns water off completely with effectively 'no notice' .... for 60hrs in my case.... a few days before Christmas . That was lots of fun too... mind you they have just given me £150 back .. so i like that game , i'll happily play it again .
It also gave the local GP's an unusual excuse to close the doors , just in case we were getting bored with the more usual ones.
I find it's always good to have an activity planned to make best use of this time, previously when I had a bit more energy, rather than just directing operations, we have ripped out the bathroom on Christmas day... and the bannister which had been getting on my nerves for a long time, and refitted by New year.... it's an excellent way of opting out of all that nonsense!
I'm glad your water company stumped up with some cash, I would recommend registering with them as 'vulnerable' I think is the term they use, this covers chronic illnesses, just log in and sign up, then they will bring you bottled water if they ever pull that stunt again. Though your water harvesting system showed ingenuity!
Previous entertainment was calling BT on our landline to request a change of service, for them to outright deny the number was ours, though we had been paying the bill for 6 months by this point?!! Turns out our number was linked to a neighbours address 4 doors down.... trying to explain to someone in a foreign call centre the very British way of naming rural properties within a hamlet by giving them all remarkably similar names was more than I could surmount.... out came the ladder and the wire cutters to remove BT cable from our house was my swift resolution to that nonsense!
Our GP just sent out a message saying they were no longer doing Dr'ing early Dec, just running as a drugs outlet... without even the excuse that they couldn't have a cuppa or flush the loos!
As I have little faith in the way the country is heading I did get a very lovely electrician this summer to wire in a socket so we can run on a generator.
I strongly recommend that you run off some water first thing in the morning to clear the water that has been standing in your lead supply pipe overnight, before drinking any. The risk of lead contamination is higher in software areas.
Thank you 🤗 I have already had a call from them to arrange testing and follow up steps, also a call from the GP to say that the company should also cover any costs for blood tests etc...
It is interesting as my thyroid has been wobbling since at least 2010 possible longer but 6 months after moving here the deterioration really kicks in? May all be a coincidence but no amount of lead is desirable so out those pipes will jolly well come!
Lets face it, they wouldn't offer the service if it wasn't hazardous 🙄 guessing they work on the fact it takes a long time to kill you so they'll probably get away with just playing it down 😕
Hi, might be worth making sure that your vitamins are good, especially the B vits. Lead may deplete B12, folate, B1, B6 and can increase homocysteine, so if you are weak in those areas it can have a significant impact (even chronic low-level lead exposure can affect those with low serum B12 or functionally low B12). Glad you are getting it sorted.
Thanks Bookish, that is interesting and rather ties up with my decline since living here, thankfully since joining the forum I've got all my supplements sorted and levels are all near the top now, except ferritin... do you think I could request some rusty iron replacement pipes 😕😏 rather than blue plastic which no doubt in the future will be condemned for leaching toxic yuck into the water too?
i've got a rusty iron supply pipe you can have... just send them round here with their digger , the previous owner buried it under 4 ft of concrete. .. but i'll let you have it 'Gratis'
(Ok to be honest i'm not 100% sure it's iron ... it's 'whatever they used after they used lead and before they used blue plastic' ... but whatever it is, it apparently means i can't have a new stopcock in my basement until i get it dug up ...)
😂 sounds ideal! Galvanised is probably what you have madam which they really hate working on, can they not just re-route and feed you in some dodgy blue plastic, let sleeping pipes lie... who knows what else could be under that much concrete?
ah .. well that would be grand ... except they covered the entire frontage in 4 ft deep concrete.. i think i already know what else is under there ... a busted drain that filled the cellar up with water when it rains... but i've 'fixed' that by re-routing the drain pipe over the concrete onto the road ( via a small pond with a water slide for some frogs to play in )
my daughter is a manager for a water company and I’ve just asked her for clarification about this. Basically your water company has a responsibility to replace lead pipes up to your house AND may replace internal lead pipe work. Although it says here that internal is not their responsibility they will sometimes do internal aswell
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