Lead Contamination
Lead Contamination is when the metal lead gets into water, soil, or air and makes it harmful.
A few drops of dark dye fall into a clear glass of water. The dye spreads and turns the water murky. You can no longer see the drops on their own — the dye is mixed in. The whole glass is now unsafe to drink, just as lead mixed into water makes it harmful.
Explaining lead contamination by grade level
Some old homes have pipes made with lead. Water runs through those pipes every day. Tiny bits of lead mix into the water. You can not see or taste the lead, but a test can find it.
Projects that explore lead contamination
Lead contamination happens when lead from old plumbing dissolves into drinking water over time. The metal slowly leaches from pipe walls into the water flowing through them. In this experiment, older houses with lead pipes show much higher lead levels than newer houses with PVC plumbing, demonstrating how pipe material directly controls lead exposure.
Lead contamination also enters water from industrial sources, not just pipes. Antifouling paint on boat hulls contains heavy metals, including lead, that slowly dissolve into surrounding water. In this experiment, boatyard water contains far more lead than water from a marina, a beach, or a tap.