Water changes in the pipeline

By Mike McKimm
BBC Northern Ireland environment correspondent

Consumers in Northern Ireland woke up on Tuesday to discover they will all be getting a little something extra in their water for Christmas - orthophosphoric acid.

It is being added in an attempt to reduce the level of lead that is dissolved from the lead supply piping in the streets and in many old houses.

The level of lead in water must be cut in half, decrees the latest directive from the European Commission and Northern Ireland, as with other parts of Europe will have to meet the new minimum standard.

Europe has set limits for lead in drinking water

Tom Horridge of the Water Service says the orthophosphoric acid is harmless.

"It has been used for over 20 years throughout Europe. Also, the acid being used is a common constituent of soft drinks. We've done extensive trials and tests and they've not noticed it at all."

However, the water in Northern Ireland has always tended to be free of most chemicals. It's generally soft, leaves little scale and the only additive is chlorine, again to meet EU standards.

But soft water means acidic water and that attacks the lead in the pipes. Water that's been left standing in a lead pipe can pass on many times the permitted level of lead to the consumer.

The decision to add the chemical comes at a time when many consumers distrust the government-run Water Service.

It has already announced its plans to impose water charges on all users in Northern Ireland by 2006 to bring it into line with the rest of the UK.

So far the service has made no mention of adding the extra chemical - the news only emerged when the BBC broke the story in its news bulletins.

I went to a GP and had a blood test and that came back two or three times the acceptable level Linda Gilbey

An added problem is that, despite being advised by its watchdog organisation, the independent Water Council, to raise public awareness of the lead problem, the Water Service did nothing.

This means that many consumers are only learning for the first time on Tuesday that they have been drinking relatively high doses of lead in their drinking water. Advice on how they could have avoided this was not passed on.

Linda Gilbey lives in south Belfast. She only discovered she had lead piping after a medical check up with a specialist in heavy metal poisoning revealed that she had 11 times the accepted safe level of lead in her body.

A test of her water revealed it was also 11 times over the limit.

"I was shocked", says Linda. "What surprised me was that the 'conventional' medical profession didn't seem to be remotely interested.

"I went to a GP and had a blood test and that came back two or three times the acceptable level, which they weren't concerned about at all. It's treated as a sub-clinical level."

It's thought there is a significant level of sub-clinical lead poisoning as a result of consuming lead in water. About 6% of the population of the UK are thought to have this level of poisoning.

At this level, lead can cause low-level illness, a loss of concentration and a loss of IQ potential in children.

Despite having been raised as a problem in health debates in Westminster and through warnings put out by the Chief Medical Officer, it receives scant attention in most medical circles in the UK.

With an election imminent, Tuesday's revelations may well change that in Northern Ireland.