The Lemon Test

Lead can be a tricky contaminant to find because it is often present in such small amounts and because the size of the particles can be variable. There are two different types of lead contamination in water: dissolved and particulate.  Neither one is visible to us – and most test kits can only detect dissolved lead. 

Our team member Rebecca Kriss in the Edwards lab at Virginia Tech developed a game-changing chemistry “hack”: modifying at-home kits to provide accurate measurements of lead in water. It works well in a lab setting, but we are still assessing whether it works for real people across real-world conditions. We’ve partnered with U.S. high schools to learn more! 

The Lemon Test gets its name from the additive used to develop this “hack.”  Lemon juice (or vinegar) is added to the water sample being tested in order to break down any particulate lead – and turn it into dissolved lead. After 24 hours, that newly dissolved lead should now be detected by the test kit, resulting in a much more accurate result.