Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Plumber
A plumber is a person who works with water systems but the word comes directly from the Latin word for the chemical element lead, “plumbum.” The Latin equivalent “plumbarius,” literally means “a worker in lead.”
In 50 A.D. the Romans developed a surprisingly modern plumbing system using a network of pipes and aqueducts to bring water in and out of Rome. They used lead for their pipes because it can be mined cheaply, has a relatively low melting point, is easy to shape and is strong and corrosion resistant. Which is why sturdy lead pipes continued to be used for centuries. The Romans knew lead was toxic, just not the extent of its potential harm. Even in the U.S., lead pipes weren’t banned until 1986, and even then, lead pipes already in the ground were allowed to remain. That leaves an estimated 15 to 22 million Americans that may still use contaminated tap water they get through service lines that pre-date the ban. This is what precipitated the 2015 health crisis in Flint, Michigan. Since 2016, the city of Flint has inspected more than 26,000 service lines and replaced nearly 10,000 lead pipes.
Today, China is the world’s largest lead producer, and it’s mostly used in car batteries, lead crystal glass, ammunition, pigments and weights. Lead is heavy but gold is almost twice as heavy. A cubic foot of lead weighs 709 pounds while a cubic foot of gold weighs 1,206 pounds. It would be difficult to grab a gold bar and run, despite what you see in Hollywood movies. Another myth is the lead pencil, which has never been made with lead. Pencils are made with soft graphite. It’s theoretically possible to have gotten lead poisoning in the past from chewing a pencil, but it was from the paint, not the graphite. Lead was outlawed in the United States as an ingredient in paint in 1978. Pencils should be stamped with a best-if-chewed-after date.
