MACOMB

Another Michigan city tests high for lead levels. This time it's St. Clair Shores

Amy Huschka
Detroit Free Press

Samples from the St. Clair Shores water system show lead levels exceeding revised state standards, the city says.

As a result, the city, along with the Macomb County Health Department, will distribute free water filter kits to qualifying households. To qualify, the household must:

  • Receive water from an affected area.
  • Have a pregnant woman or at least one child under age 18 living or spending several hours in the home weekly who receives WIC benefits, Medicaid health insurance or has difficulty affording a filter ($35) or replacement cartridges ($15).

Water filter kits will be available to St. Clair Shores residents who qualify at a distribution event Thursday from 4-8 p.m. at the St. Clair Shores Senior Activity Center, 20000 Stephens. 

"We recommend that households with a child or pregnant woman in this community use a certified lead filter to remove lead from their drinking water," said William Ridella, director/health officer for the Macomb County Health Department.

Lead enters drinking water primarily as a result of corrosion, or wearing away, of materials containing lead in the water distribution system and plumbing. These materials include lead-based solder used to join copper pipe, brass, and chrome-plated brass faucets and fittings and water service lines made of lead. More common sources of lead exposure include lead-based paint chips, dust, soil, and imported goods.

Populations at the highest risk of lead poisoning include children under 6 years old living in older homes or homes with lead paint, pregnant women and adults exposed to lead due to their occupation.

The following can help reduce your exposure to lead in drinking water:

  • Replace faucets with those made in 2014 or later or marked “NSF 61/9” since they meet stricter limits.
  • If you do not have a lead service line, run the water for 30 seconds to two minutes, or until it becomes cold or reaches a steady temperature.
  • If you do have a lead service line, run the water for at least five minutes to flush water from your home or the building’s plumbing and the lead service line. 
  • Use cold, filtered water or bottled water for cooking and preparing baby formula.  Hot water is likely to contain higher levels of lead.
  • Do not boil water to remove lead. Boiling will not reduce or remove the lead.
  • Look for alternative drinking water sources or treatment of water.  You may want to consider purchasing bottled water or a water filter.
  • Have your water tested for lead if you suspect that your home’s plumbing or faucets could contain lead or lead-based solder.
  • Clean aerators. Aerators are small attachments at the top of the faucets which regulate the flow of water. They can accumulate small particles of lead in their screens. They should be removed and sanitized monthly.
  • Install a water filter that is certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for lead reduction. The EPA also recommends the filter be certified for NSF/ANSI Standard 42 for particulate reduction (Class 1). If a water filter is installed, replace cartridges at least as often as recommended by the manufacturer.

Samples from Royal Oak, Birmingham, White Lake, Oak Park and Hazel Park in Oakland County have tested with elevated lead in municipal water supplies.

And Clare in mid-Michigan has been affected as well.

Michigan in June 2018 adopted the nation's strictest rules for lead in drinking water — new lead and copper rules that will drop the "action level" for lead from 15 parts per billion, the federal limit, to 12 ppb in 2025.

The new state rules also require municipal systems to conduct testing under highly specific protocols to better examine their systems for lead problems, emphasizing tests in locations known to have lead service lines. It's those new testing methods — which include sampling the fifth liter of water from a tap at a household with known lead service lines, not just the first liter  — that have led to multiple communities now finding they exceed the current 15 ppb standard.

And even our neighbors to the north aren't immune. 

Residents in some homes in Montreal, a cosmopolitan city an hour north of the U.S.-Canada border, and Regina, in the flat western prairies, are among those drinking and cooking with tap water with lead levels that exceed Canada's federal guidelines. 

For more information:

  • For water testing/lead service line questions, contact the St. Clair Shores lead safe hotline at 586-447-3305
  • For health related questions, contact the Macomb County Health Department Public Health Nursing program at 586-469-5520. Contact your primary care physician for testing your child’s blood for lead poisoning.

Additional resources can be found online:

Keith Matheny of the Free Press contributed to this story.

Contact Amy Huschka: ahuschka@freepress.com or follow her on Twitter (@aetmanshuschka).

Follow Detroit Free Press on Twitter (@freep), Instagram (@detroitfreepress) and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress).