Concern about lead remnants in taps

More than half of a selection of five taps purchased and tested by Master Plumbers for lead remnants showed levels above the New Zealand drinking water standard, and the group is pushing for the Government to regulate.

One failed tap had lead in the water 11 times above the standard, it said.

The plumbers’ member organisation bought five taps online and three of the products seeped lead, it said.

Absorbing lead can have permanent effects on the brain and nervous system, particularly in young children.

The World Health Organisation has deemed no level of exposure as safe.

It is banned from paint and fuel but not completely from taps.

Master Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers chief executive Greg Wallace wants the Government to legislate at ‘‘zero tolerance’’ for lead in new taps. He said New Zealand had one of the world’s highest allowable levels of lead in drinking water.

‘‘We want the Government to match the soon-to-be enforced Australian level of 0.024 micrograms of lead per litre, which is as far to zero as possible.’’

The standard here is 0.1 mg/l. ‘‘Australia has reduced the level it allows, as has America,’’ Wallace said.

‘‘The risk is we will be the dumping ground for these products made with lead components that other countries now won’t allow in.

‘‘I am hoping to have grandchildren join my family one day and I don’t want them exposed to lead in their water.’’

He said builders were increasingly often buying taps and fittings and then getting a plumber to fit them.

‘‘These fixtures often come in an unlabelled white box, sometimes with instructions not in English and no information about whether iron is in them.

‘‘We have plumbers unknowingly putting in taps that could be unhealthy for the family that would use it and that is not fair,’’ he said.