Lead Poisonings with Clinical Symptoms due to Drinking Water

Abstract

In the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century cases of lead poisonings with clinical symptoms in relation to drinking water lead pipes were frequently observed. The largest documented case clusters in the Germanspeaking countries occurred in Dessau in the years 1886/1887 and in Leipzig in 1930. In addition to the use of lead pipes, almost always soft or very soft water was associated with the cases. In addition one or more additional supervening factors such as presence of plenty of free carbonic acid or presence of humic acids, air/oxygen in the pipe systems, great length of lead pipes, recent pipework construction, long stagnation periods or changes in the water chemistry were mentioned in context with the poisonings. In the case clusters where lead in tap water was measured, concentrations frequently exceeded 1 mg/l and sometimes 10 mg/l in stagnation samples.