Hundreds of thousands of miles of pipes made from asbestos cement deliver drinking water to people around the world, but are reaching the end of their lifespan and starting to degrade. Scientists are now debating whether this could pose a risk to human health.
“The water pipe burst on the top of the hill and flooded into the gas network,” remembers Alan Walker, owner of the Village Stores in Stannington, a suburb of Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District in England. “By the morning, people were turning on their gas hobs and water was coming out. It was one of the worst winters we had. We were one of the last houses to be reconnected, 13 days later.”
He is recalling an incident from December 2022. The burst water main affected more than 3,000 homes, and around 10,000 people in Stannington. More than a year on, it should be just a bad memory of a cold and unpleasant winter. But the water burst highlighted another nagging concern.
Wow, asbestos pipes, that’s something new I learned today…
Total genius move by whomever designed it and the organization that approved/certified it for human potable water use.
How am I still surprised by these things, long ago we once thought lead pipes were perfect for moving/transporting potable water (apparently, one of the many things that contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire).
Nowadays, high density polyethylene pipes are selling like hotcakes and certified for potable water use. Will we find, in a few decades, that micro-plastics are more prevalent than expected and cause innumerable long term health issues? Hence, the new thing to avoid like the Black Plague.
What is wrong with plain old copper pipes, outside of just being expensive due to low supply vs huge demand? (I may have missed the news on how they too affect health)
Lead pipes aren’t so bad. It’s lead as an ion rather than an element that’s the problem. The lead that led to the dumbenising and collapse of Rome was actually lead acetate, which is sweeter than sugar. They added it to wine, believe it or not. Then you get the Pb2+ ions in your bloodstream and you start to watch Fox News.
I believe in Rome they watched Circus Vulpes
This seems like a really odd article, they gloss over the fact that asbestos causes lung problems as it stays in the lung and basically cuts it to pieces. I don’t believe it is the chemical composition of asbestos that causes the issues (not 100% on that) but the damage it does.
It’s a bit like saying knife crime causes lots of injuries and deaths and we’ve now realised people have knives at home so maybe they’ll start suffering similar issues. I know that’s an over simplification and not a perfect comparison, but you get the point.
The article also mentions multiple times that there is no clear evidence of issues caused via ingestion. I agree though that more research should be done but articles like this will unnecessarily worry people that aren’t aware there are lots of AC pipes and how asbestos causes illnesses.
Most water pipes these days are plastic, are micro plastics likely to be better or worse in the long run?
Whilst I might sound like someone that works for big asbestos I’m not! I do work in the water industry though so possibly this influences my opinion slightly as I was already aware of the amount of AC pipes.
as it stays in the lung and basically cuts it to pieces.
Problem is, we don’t know for sure that the same thing doesn’t happen in the intestines
Cancer, I would imagine. The fuck kind of headline is this?
A really fucking bad one.
