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More about lead in water bottles

Hi everyone,

I’ve had a busy day, but I wanted to share something important before I go to bed. I tested a bunch of bottled water to see if they had any lead in them. The good news? Most of the bottles showed no lead at all! Some even tested in the negative range, which just means they didn’t have any lead.

There’s something called "matrix interference" that might make the results look like that, especially with alkaline water. Alkaline water has extra stuff added to it, which can mess with the test results.

Even though I feel pretty good about these tests, I’m going to do them again. This time, I’ll add a tiny bit of lead to the samples to see how much the interference changes the numbers. That way, I can be even more sure about the results. But right now, I’m confident that bottled water is safe and doesn’t have any lead in it.

Why is this important? Well, we drink water every day, and if there’s even a tiny bit of lead in the water, it can add up. For example, if you drink a bottle of water with just one part per billion (ppb) of lead, you’d be drinking 0.5 micrograms of lead. That’s enough to need a special warning label!

Luckily, bottled water makers know this, so they make sure there’s no lead in the water. It’s safe to drink, and that’s a relief.

Thanks for all your comments and questions! I’m in Georgia right now, but when I get back, let me know what you want me to test and I' ll test it.

If you’re worried about lead in your home or just curious, post to the blog or you can check out EverythingLead.org or join the food list to learn more.

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!