Is Your Garden Hose Dangerous to Your Health?

How often do you grab a sip of water from your garden hose when you’re out gardening? If you’re like most gardeners, you’ve probably done it fairly often. And if you have kids, you can bet that they’re drinking from the garden hose, too. Would it scare you to find out that the water from your garden hose could be toxic? Scary information, and, sadly, true.

In May, the Ecology Center, an Ann Arbor based research center, tested the water from 90 garden hoses that were currently on the market. Their results were shocking, especially in light of the safety standards for drinking water and Consumer Protection Agency standards for lead in products that will be used by children. Among other things, the Ecology Center found that water sampled from some of the garden hoses contained unacceptably high levels of lead, phthalates and BPA and DEP, a hormone disruptor that can cause numerous problems for young children. Specifically, the water from one light duty 1/2 inch garden hose contained 928ppm for lead – nearly 20 times the allowable amount in drinking water. It also contained BPA that was more than 20 times the acceptable amount in drinking water and DEHP in levels 4 times the federal standard for drinking water.

Meanwhile, in 2011, Consumer Reports did similar tests with 16 new hoses, all available nationally. They found that the hoses that were labeled as drinking water safe garden hoses leached the least amount of lead – less than the allowable lead levels for tap water. Among the other garden hose products, however, the lead levels ranged as high as 100 times the levels of lead allowable in drinking water.

Why Is There Lead in Your Garden Hose?

The lead and other harmful chemicals in your garden hose come from two different sources. First, brass garden hose fittings can contain up to 8 percent lead. The bigger problem, though, is the plastic used for the hose body. Many cheaper garden hoses – and some higher quality ones – use lead as a stabilizer for the plastic and as a pigment. It’s especially common if your garden hose is green or yellow – which includes most of them. In addition, PVC garden hose, which is very common, contains phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors.

So What Can You Do?

First, discard your old plastic garden hose and buy a natural rubber hose, suggests the Ecology Center. Second, look for a drinking water safe garden hose. Even with those precautions, however, the Ecology Center and Consumer Reports both recommend that you always flush the garden hose before drinking by letting the water run for at least 30 seconds before drinking. And just to be on the safe side, flush your garden hose before using it to water anything edible as well.

Winterizing Your Garden Hose

It’s getting close to that time of year when gardeners are bringing in their final harvests and getting ready to winterize the garden. While you’re picking up the mulch and putting in the spring bulbs, don’t forget to take proper care of your garden hose for the winter. If you’ve invested in a decent garden hose, you’ll want to make sure that you store it properly to preserve its life for another season.  Here’s how to do it.

Remove the garden hose from its outdoor fixture. If you typically store it on a garden hose reel or other holder, unwind it.

Drain the hose completely of water. Standing water in your garden hose can freeze and thaw during the winter, damaging the vinyl or rubber. The best way to drain the hose is to drape one end over a fence or chair back and stretch the rest out straight. Starting at the other end of the garden hose, hold it up over your head and start walking along the length of the hose, sliding your hands along it. This will drain any water toward the downhill end of the hose and drain it.

Examine the entire hose carefully, looking for any signs of wear or cracking. Pay special attention to any place the hose may have commonly kinked or bent. If your garden hose is showing signs of wear and tear, this is a great time to find a replacement hose. The end of the gardening season typically means sale prices on gardening tools, so if you’ve been considering an upgrade from a ½ inch garden hose to a ¾ inch garden hose, or thinking of replacing your old hose with a coil garden hose or a drinking safe garden hose, you won’t find better prices than you will at end-of-season sales.

Let the hose lay out in the sun for several hours to completely dry out before continuing.

If you have a garden hose reel, feed the hose onto it, taking care not to kink or tangle the hose.

If you don’t have a reel, coil your hose manually. Take one end of the garden hose in your off hand and drape the hose over your shoulder. Walk along the length of the hose, coiling it over your shoulder as you go until you reach the end.

Store the coiled garden hose in a warm, dry spot in your basement, garage or cellar until spring.

Need to keep your hose out during the winter to water animals or for any other reason? Consider investing in a heated garden hose. While heated hoses are somewhat more expensive than standard garden hoses, they’ll last far longer because they’re not subject to wear and tear from freezing.