Lead in drinking water

[littlefrog]

Hello there,
I'm fairly new to this, but wondered if anyone can help?
I had a miscarriage at 10 and a bit weeks at the start of June, and we're hoping to try again sometime soon. We're having work done on our house, and one of the things it's turned up is that we have a lead water pipe coming into the house.
Does anyone know where I can find some information about the likelihood of lead pipes causing problems in future pregnancies/to general health?
And is there anything we can do other than replace the piping, which is really expensive?
I'd be really really grateful for any advice anyone can give me...

We have the same problem and my dh (who knows about such things) tells me that it's only a problem in water that's been sitting in the pipes so if you run the cold tap for a couple of minutes in the morning, before you make your first drink with it, that will get rid of the water that's been in the pipes overnight, and which would (potentially) have a higher lead content. The level in the water for the rest of the day would be very low because it's not sitting around in the pipe for long.

It's also worth remembering that if you have the pipes replaced you'd only need to have the drinking water pipes replaced, not the ones to the bath or to the boiler and so on, so it might not be as expensive or disruptive as you think.

This is pretty good for basic info about lead pipes - as WWB says the levels are usually very low if you run the tap first thing in the morning.

You can request a blood test to check your plasma lead levels but I doubt they'd be abnormal.

Thanks for the really quick reply Wigwam! Running the water sounds like a good practical idea. Do you/husband know whether the ordinary Brita-like filters you can get remove lead from water?
It will be horribly expensive to do the pipes, because it's the main supply to the house that's lead, not the internal piping, and (of course!) it's all laid 2 foot deep under stone...in a narrow passageway... It's one of those things: if it's a health risk, we'll spend the money, but if it's just paranoia, we'd rather not!

Thank you Mrs B as well.
Running the tap it is then. Though we're currently without the kitchen and using a bathroom tap for water - think this might be a moment to buy bottled water...

I wouldn't rely on a Brita filter to remove the lead, I don't think.

running the water is what we have alwyas done..and the inside of the pipe is likely to be furred up by now which also makes it a little less risk