Concerns have been raised about lead water lines in Brandon, and potential health hazards as a result.

We checked with Portage City Hall about the situation here, and Waterworks Committee Chair Councillor Wayne Wall says about 500 out of 5000 services still have a lead line, and they advise people to run their taps for a few minutes each morning.

"In case there was any residual lead in the line," he says. "And in our process at the water plant, we add a chemical to the water that actually coats the inside of the lead lines, to keep the lead from leeching into the water."

Wall stresses it's not hard to check if the water line to your home or business is lead or copper.

"You can look in your basement, where the line comes in, just before the water meter," he says. "And you'll see whether it's a copper line, or a lead line. A lead line is gray in colour, and flexible. They usually don't have an elbow on them where they come in, they're just bent. And it would be on the street-side of the meter."

Wall acknowledges if you have a lead line, you need to be cautious, noting he had a lead service in his home on 1st Street for a number of years.

"And I wasn't prepared to spend the money to replace it from my basement out to the curb stop on the street," he says. "So we ran the water for a couple of minutes in the morning, and that was the only precaution that we ever took. And I felt quite confident that the water quality was fine."