在试图保护饮用水质量的饮用水行业和试图保护建筑物免受火灾损失的消防系统行业之间，一场争论正在激烈进行。争议的焦点在于，在由公共饮用水系统供水的湿式灭火系统中，使用了不可旋转的黑色铁管。所进行的测试显示，将饮用水系统与湿式灭火系统分离的火灾报警止回阀的上游和下游的铅和其他重金属污染物水平都高得惊人。有趣的是，饮用水行业人士认为，污染水平升高是因为水从灭火系统中使用的非饮用黑铁管中浸出了这些重金属； 灭火系统人们认为重金属的来源是饮用水本身。本文讨论了一项旨在确定危险是否确实存在的研究，并报告了该研究的官方结论。

A controversy rages between the drinking water industry, trying to protect the quality of drinking water, and the fire suppression system industry trying to protect buildings from loss due to fires. The controversy centers around the use of nonpotable, black iron pipe being used in wet-charged fire suppression systems, which are fed by public drinking water systems. Test conducted have shown alarmingly elevated levels of lead and other heavy metal contaminants both upstream and downstream of the fire alarm check valve separating the drinking water system from the wet-charged fire suppression system. Interestingly enough, the drinking water people contend that the elevated contaminant levels are from the water leaching these heavy metals from the non-potable, black iron pipe used in the fire suppression system; and the fire suppression system people contend that the source of the heavy metals is from the drinking water supply itself. This paper discusses a study which was conducted to determine if a hazard does indeed exist, and also reports on the official conclusions of the study.