Myth vs Reality

We have heard from our mothers that we should fill a pot with cold tap water for cooking.  There's a reason your mother told you to fill the pasta pot with cold water.  Hot water can leach lead out of pipes and "there's a possibility that lead is somewhere along the plumbing circuit in any home," says Michael Shannon, M.D., pediatric doctor at Harvard Medical School.  According to the EPA, houses built before 1986 are the most likely to have lead pipes, fixtures, fittings, and solder.  But even plumbing legally considered lead-free may contain up to 8 percent lead.  While copper pipes replaced lead ones decades ago, fusing pipes with lead was legal until 1991.  So it is smart and cautious to use cold water in cooking.  We would be wise to have our water tested periodically by a certified laboratory.  Visit www.realsimple.com/watertesting for information about home test kits.

Source:  Real Simple Magazine, April 2007.

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