Water Quality

Detecting Lead

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s action level of 15 parts per billion is not a health-based limit; it is an administrative tool used to check community-wide exposure. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a 1 part per billion limit for young children. Pregnant women, infants, and young children are most at risk from lead exposures, especially bottle-fed infants who drink formula made with tap water. Scientists have linked the effects of lead on the brain with lowered IQ in children.

Missoula Water is not aware of any homes that have lead water service lines, and lead in drinking water is primarily from customers’ private plumbing pipes and fixtures.

To test the water in your home, we recommend contacting RD Water Lab at 406-721-8179. They will provide more information and send you a sample jar. Sampling costs about $40 per sample to process, and it takes about two weeks to get results. We suggest testing your kitchen faucet, especially if it’s older than 1986, and take samples first thing in the morning after water has been sitting in the pipes all night. 

You can reduce your exposure to any lead in water by flushing water from your tap before you use it for drinking or cooking. Do this if the water has not run for an hour or more. Let the cold water run from the tap until you feel a temperature change before using it. This may take between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. Instead of flushing, you can use a filter certified to remove lead.