Water Right “Made In The USA” Hoses: post updated June 2021.

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June 12, 2021 Update:

• It is my understanding that Water Right is not currently selling the 100% Lead-Free version of these hoses (the ones with the stainless steel ends that I originally tested and discussed on this post).
• It is also my understanding that the hoses Water Right is selling at this time are non-leaching for Lead (that the brass end caps of their otherwise Lead-free hoses have Lead (at apprx. 1,000 ppm, based on their statements), but that they are plated in a manner that prevents them from leaching).

So one the one hand, by Lead Safe Mama standards, this can no longer be identified as a truly “100% Lead-free” product (the technically accurate advertising claim might be “Lead-safe“); however this is still likely one of the safer choices available today (likely on par with or better than marine/RV hoses for drinking water delivery in those applications).

I’ll say it again – I hate recommending products!

This is a really good example as to why I really don’t like recommending products… because companies can [for a number of reasons] change their component formulation over time, and my readers may not necessarily read the full post with all the details regarding the specifics of a recommendation [in this case, the clear caveat that I only ever recommended the specific Water Right products I actually tested and wrote abut — the Water Right products that had stainless steel ends].

My readers expect only recommendations from me for truly Lead-free products, and I try to be quite strict about this. My husband has some other considerations he would also like to share (continue reading below the image.)

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I have also e-mailed Water Right asking them to confirm this and am awaiting their response. I will update this post with their response as soon as I hear from them. My e-mail from earlier today is below.

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June 12, 2021: Comments from Leonard Rubin (Tamara’s Husband):

I share Tamara’s commitment to eliminating Lead from consumer products — not only because of the obvious direct hazards to the health of the end user that many products incorporating Lead pose, but also for the less-obvious “hidden”-yet-disastrous cradle-to-grave environmental impact of the continued mining, refining, and manufacturing of Lead/products incorporating Lead.

That said, I am generally impressed with Water Right’s history of endeavoring to make higher-quality, less-toxic, and more durable hoses. Their polyurethane hose material is particularly appealing, and while I prefer the use of stainless steel to even “non-Leaded” [U.S. regulatory doublespeak for low-Lead-content] brass, as a mechanic and fabricator myself, I do understand the formidable challenges of producing affordable, watertight/weatherproof, non-galling, non-toxic threaded fittings in materials other than brass!

Absent any available alternative for the time-being, I think the use of fittings that are “heavily-plated, lowest-Lead-content-brass-we-can-source” — and which, critically, are “tested and confirmed to be non-leaching” seems like a reasonable step in the right direction.

I do not know what the specific issue was that prompted Water Right to apparently eliminate their stainless steel fittings option, but on principal — from the perspective of being committed to eliminating as much Lead from our environment as possible, I would sincerely hope to see the company again offer an option [at a higher price, justifiably] for stainless steel (or some other truly 100% Lead-free) hose fittings, however.

I also agree with Tamara that it is really imperative that companies — especially those developing & marketing their products as high-end, less-toxic/safer alternatives — rigorously and explicitly describe what they are and are not able to achieve at every step of the way, and take every pain to avoid creating misleading impressions and/or unfulfilled expectations by failing to distinguish “100% Lead-free” from non–leaching/Lead-safe.

Maybe Water Right could adjust the language on their website to something along the lines of…  “our polyurethane hose-material is 100% Lead-free;  all our hardware is made from Lead-safe non-leaching heavily-nickel-plated so-called ‘Lead-free’ brass* [*an unfortunately rather misleading industry term for brass that has a much lower Lead content than the very-high Lead content brass commonly used in most hose fittings”.]

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Original post (edited to remove discount code and graphics with Lead-free references): Published June 27, 2018

I have tested three examples of the Water Right hoses (the models with the stainless components) and confirmed that all components of these hoses are 100% Lead-free.* I love this product so much I am personally using one in my home/ for my garden. June 2018 note: I have not yet tested their brass hose end components, but will update this post as soon as I have done that.

Additional reading:

1. Click here to see my other posts about hoses.
2. Click here to see my other posts with products with test results from  Water Right Products! (the Oregon-based hose company!)
3. Click here to read more about the testing methodology for test results reported on this website.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

*When tested with an XRF instrument/ within the testing limitations of an XRF instrument. XRF instruments test down to single digit parts per million (ppm) when testing for Lead.