Quote Originally Posted by Otto View Post
Lead service pipes were very common in Ontario for houses built before the 1950's. This was probably the case throughout North America. The attached link gives the mitigation strategy for the City of Toronto. There is so much of the stuff out there that replacing it all a once wouldn't be doable (or affordable).



http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2...file-34876.pdf

I wasn't aware of the health risks of galvanized pipe. I always thought they were being phased out because they would corrode from the inside out and fail without warning. I guess it's just one more thing to add to the list of problems associated with old houses. I hate working on them. You never know what you're going to run into.
Finally had a chance to check out the link that you had provided. After reading it all the way through it looks like the government there recognizes that lead in the drinking water is a concern and they're taking steps to address it.

Quote:

Health Canada has established a maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) of lead in
drinking water of 10 ppb (parts per billion) in a free flowing sample
of water.