TOXIC LEAD TAP FEARS

Babies deemed most at risk >>

HOUSEHOLDS have been officially warned to run taps for 30 seconds before using water for drinking or cooking in the morning amid rising fears about lead poisoning, with bottle-fed babies the most at risk.

An investigation by News Corp Australia also reveals the limit on lead in brass plumbing fittings will be slashed by as much as 94 per cent.

The moves have been made by the Environmental Health Standing Committee or enHealth, which represents the Commonwealth, state and territory health departments plus the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The committee’s actions were triggered by contamination scares involving Geelong’s bubblers and Perth’s children’s hospital.

A Federal Health Department spokesman said enHealth’s “guidance statement” to not use hot tap water for drinking or cooking and to flush cold-water taps in the morning “acknowledges the risks associ- ated with lead and the need to minimise an individual’s exposure as much as possible”.

It was released nearly six months ago but not publicised.

The statement’s strongest warning is for new parents, declaring “infants who drink formula prepared with leadcontaminated water may be at a higher risk because of the large volume of water they consume relative to their body size”.

“Infants and children are especially vulnerable as lead can impair brain development,” enHealth says.

Lead can also damage digestive, cardiovascular, renal and reproductive functions – not just in the young. It dissolves into water from brass plumbing fittings after lengthy contact. The leaching can be more significant in hot water.

In 2016, Macquarie University’s Dr Paul Harvey found lead in more than half of water from hundreds of household taps.

One in 12 had levels above the maximum allowable level of .01 milligrams per litre. – that limit was set in the 1990s.

The World Health Organisation has since said no level of exposure is safe.