Alternative approaches to lead sampling in drinking water: A comparative study of homes with and without lead service...

Drinking water sampling is necessary to quantify lead release from service lines and premise plumbing sources. Selecting the appropriate sampling method can meaningfully address a given lead sampling goal, including regulatory compliance, corrosion control assessment, lead sources identification, or residential lead exposure assessment. The objective of this work was to compare water sampling lead results from multiple sampling approaches in homes with and without lead service lines (LSLs) in two cities in the United States (US): one with and one without effective corrosion control. These approaches included targeted stagnation first liter (i.e., first draw), fifth liter, fully flushed, sequential profile, manual composite, random daytime, and an innovative passive sampling device. In the city with effective corrosion control (orthophosphate addition), regardless of sampling approach, homes with and without LSLs could not be differentiated based on lead concentration results. However, in the city with ineffective corrosion control, large lead differences between homes with and without LSLs existed with every sampling approach. For example, exposure based manual composite samples had 15 times more lead in homes with LSLs as compared to non-LSL homes based on mean levels 6.9 versus 0.45 μg/L). Lead concentration thresholds based on mean fifth liter sampling results (2× multiplication factor) had 100 % accuracy in determining LSL and non-LSL homes in that city. In addition, lead exposure was reduced by a factor of 5.8 based on mean lead concentrations (6.9 versus 1.2 μg/L) in drinking water collected according to the exposure-based manual composite sampling approach. An innovative passive sampling device for assessing long-term lead exposure was successfully demonstrated in homes for the first time. Interestingly, the long-term exposure results based on the device were similar to the short-term manual composite exposure sampling results, although more data are needed across homes and cities. The findings of this study expand the industry's knowledge and perspective on water sampling for lead, to aid with LSL identification, residential exposure assessment and other goals.