Your faucet's always at the same temperature

Your faucet's always at the same temperature
When you cook or drink, keep it cool.
When you wash your hands, turn up the heat.
When you're soaping up after the bathroom,
warm-to-hot water is necessary to kill germs.
But when you're quenching your thirst or prepping a meal,
make sure to draw water from the cold tap.
Hot water is likely to contain higher levels of lead,
says the EPA, because it dissolves the toxic metal
in plumbing more quickly than cold water does.
About 15% of our lead exposure in the
United States comes from drinking water.
High blood lead levels have been linked to a host of health problems.
Just 4 ug/dl (micrograms per deciliter)
can double your risk of a fatal heart attack or stroke,
and similar levels may cause memory loss,
says Eliseo Guallar, MD, PhD,
an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins.

The Fix: If you haven't turned on the faucet for 6 hours or more,
let it run cold for a minute before using, the EPA advises --
and use only water filters bearing a seal from NSF International,
a company that certifies products' lead-removing abilities,
i.e. available at www.PreciousWatersUSA.com