Abstract
Thirty-minute stagnation tapwater samples were collected from five households with lead plumbing near Glasgow, Scotland. Four sites were supplied with water from the same source, but subject to different levels of treatment ranging from no treatment whatever at one extreme, to coagulation, filtration, chlorination and pH adjustment at the other. Water treatment processes greatly reduce the plumbosolvent properties of the water as indicated by 30 min stagnation, and it is postulated that the removal of colloidal hydrous iron oxide/humic acid species is particularly important in this regard. The presence of appreciable levels of colloidal aluminium in some alum-coagulated water samples does not appear to influence plumbosolvency.