Report No DWI0317

Nov 1992

The Water Quality Regulations place a responsibility on water undertakers to treat water to reduce lead concentrations in water at consumers' taps. Guidance has been issued to water undertakers on the interpretation of the Regulations. That guidance advises water undertakers to use on-site lead pipe test rigs, or sampling from consumers' taps during field trials, to monitor the effectiveness of treatment to achieve a significant reduction in lead concentrations.

This document provides advice on the construction and operation of lead pipe rigs and on the sampling from consumers' taps for monitoring the effectiveness of treatment to reduce plumbosolvency. This advice draws upon extensive experience by the authors. In particular the document includes:

• the rationale for the use of half-hour stagnation samples in monitoring plumbosolvency;
• the rationale for the use of lead pipe rigs;

• discussion of the merits of using "old" or "new" lead pipe;

• general details for construction of a "basic" lead pipe rig;

• general details for construction of an "automatic" lead pipe rig;

• the basic principles for monitoring at consumers' taps.

The preparation of this advice document was funded by the Department of the Environment whose permission to publish is gratefully acknowledged. This report can be obtained from the WRc Publications Unit, telephone (0491) 571531, priced at £25.

Copies of this report may be available as an Acrobat pdf download under the 'Find Completed Research' heading on the DWI website.