Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 418 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States.
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 467 Snell Engineering Center, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States.
Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Feb 2;55(3):1964-1972. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c07614. Epub 2021 Jan 11.
Lead in drinking water remains a significant human health risk. At-home lead in water test kits could provide consumers with a convenient and affordable option to evaluate this risk, but their accuracy and reliability is uncertain. This study examined the ability of at-home lead test kits to detect varying concentrations of dissolved and particulate lead in drinking water. Sixteen brands representing four test kit types (binary color, binary strip, colorimetric vial, and color strip) were identified. Most kits (12 of 16 brands) were not suitable for drinking water analysis, with lead detection limits of 5-20 mg/L. Binary strips detected dissolved lead at drinking water-relevant levels but failed to detect particulate lead. Household acids (lemon juice and vinegar) improved the strip's ability to detect lead by dissolving some of the lead particulates to the point soluble lead exceeded 15 μg/L. These results illustrate the applications of at-home testing kits for drinking water analysis, highlight limitations and areas for possible improvement, and put forth a testing protocol by which new at-home lead test kits can be judged.
饮用水中的铅仍然是一个重大的人类健康风险。家庭用的水中铅检测试剂盒为消费者提供了一种方便且经济实惠的选择，可以用来评估这种风险，但它们的准确性和可靠性是不确定的。本研究检验了家用铅检测试剂盒检测饮用水中不同浓度溶解态和颗粒态铅的能力。确定了 16 个品牌的试剂盒，代表了四种测试套件类型（二元颜色、二元条带、比色管和颜色条带）。大多数试剂盒（16 个品牌中的 12 个）不适合饮用水分析，其铅检测限为 5-20mg/L。二元条带可以检测到与饮用水相关的溶解态铅，但未能检测到颗粒态铅。家用酸（柠檬汁和醋）提高了条带检测铅的能力，因为它们溶解了部分铅颗粒，使得可溶性铅超过 15μg/L。这些结果说明了家用测试套件在饮用水分析中的应用，突出了其局限性和可能改进的领域，并提出了一个测试协议，可据此判断新的家用铅检测试剂盒。
