Lead in bones and drinking water in towns with hard and soft water

In two comparable series of medicolegal necropsies the lead content of ribs was found to be much higher in three soft water than in three hard water towns in England and Wales. Fourteen out of 96 "overnight" tap water samples from five soft water and five hard water towns in England and Wales and from Glasgow (soft water) had lead concentrations of over 0.1 p.p.m.; values over 0.3 p.p.m. were found only in Glasgow. The possible relevance of the findings to the association of cardiovascular disease and soft drinking water is discussed.