I was really surprised when I recently found out that many garden hoses may pose serious health hazards to us and our pets.

Reporters from ABC news tested 10 garden hoses from several different stores, and found that half of them tested positive for lead in amounts higher than what the Environmental Protection Agency allows for drinking water, some even had “extremely high levels”.

Here are some excerpts from the article that I found interesting:

“… on the packaging of the garden hose was a tiny warning that said, “Do not drink out of this product,” and, “This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects and/or reproductive harm.”

It turns out some garden hoses may contain dangerous levels of lead.”

“Lead is a potent neurotoxin. There is no amount of lead that’s safe for a child,” Pizarro said. “They create a public health risk to children. They put children at risk for brain damage, developmental disabilities and a host of other very serious problems.”

To read the full article, you can check it out HERE. Consumer Reports also did a test on the safety of garden hoses; you can read that article HERE as well.

Now, they aren’t saying that every garden hose is dangerous, but many of them are. Hoses made of PVC are the major carriers of lead. If you have small children or pets, you really should check out your hose. If it still has a tag on it (of course mine is long gone) it might say in very small letters “do not drink”. Though, some hoses are not labeled at all. If your hose has brass fittings on it, those too can leach lead.

I never would have considered that my hose could be dangerous to my family. I water my garden with it. I fill the animal’s water bowls with it. I use it to fill the kid’s swimming pool. But now that I know that it could be a very toxic thing I am going to look further into the brand of my hoses and their quality. If I find that any are in fact made with PVC, I will be replacing them at once. I’m not messing around with the health of my children!

I did a search on safe garden hoses, and there are several you can choose from. Some can be quite pricey though. The best one that I could find (meaning the least expensive but still good quality) was the Apex Healthy Habitat Family Safe Garden Hose, it’s 75 ft. long for $33.

I’d be interested to see what you find with your own garden hoses. Let me know if you find that yours is safe or not. I’m going to check mine out first thing tomorrow!

*UPDATE: I did check my hoses, and neither had anything saying “drinking water safe”, so I ended up ordering the 75 ft. Apex hose I mentioned above. Since I signed up for the risk-free trial of Amazon Prime, I got it shipped for FREE. I’ll be glad to get it in the next couple of days. The kids wanted to play in their little pool today, and I felt really bad using my hose to fill it. I kept warning the kids, “Do NOT drink the water, okay?!” It will be nice when I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

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