[P]eople served by Canaan Fire District No. 2 got a notice in late August about high lead concentrations, but officials say the results were confined to vacant homes and residents shouldn’t worry about systemwide contamination.
Federal regulations say that no more than 10% of sampling sites in a water system can have lead concentrations greater than 15 ppb.
Two of the 10 sites in the Essex County district registered 33 ppb and 67 ppb, according to Ben Montross, chief of compliance for the Department of Environmental Conservation’s drinking water division.
But those samples came from two vacant homes in part of the district that extends into Stewartstown, New Hampshire, said district water operator April Busfield.
There’s no need for panic, Busfield said.
“The water is safe, but it potentially could corrode older lead piping,” she said.
The impacted homes are old and empty, and sitting water had corroded the inside of their piping, causing lead runoff, she said.
Montross emphasized that the lead did not come from the water system itself. He said that in older homes, with piping likelier to contain more lead, lead can be dissolved into the water if it’s not actively used.
“You think about the water just sitting in the faucet for a long period of time … it will have a chemical reaction that may explain what we saw here,” he said.
Montross said lead was undetectable at seven of the tested sites in the Canaan district. Aside from the two exceeding sites, one location showed a lead level of 4 ppb, he said.
Busfield said the water system has since been treated with sodium hydroxide, to slightly increase its pH level. That, Mossfield said, can be an effective way to stop corrosion.
Both Busfield and Montross said anyone concerned about lead should make sure to run their water before using it.
“If you’re worried about it, run your water for a couple minutes before you drink it,” said Busfield, who plans to resample the water in January to see if further steps are needed.
Montross said the best practice is to flush the water until it’s consistently cold. People can request sampling kits from the Department of Health to test water in their homes, too.
