Man!! I just got all these tubes and connectors from the homo depo but then I noticed a couple of them had STATE OF CALIFORNIA warnings on them, so I decided to look into the materials used by each company.



Turns out those porous soaker hose things are made from recycled car tire rubber, which often have some amount of heavy metals. I can't find any information on the specific material composition or if any tests have been done to measure the lead levels in the rubber or what happens to water that flows through it, especially in the hot summer sun. I suppose I could call the company, but part of me just wants to avoid it altogether.

The connectors are Acetal plastic, aka Polyoxymethylene which in some cases has been approved for use with food and is used in K'Nex, buttttt...... it reacts with mineral acids and chlorine found in common tap water leading to degradation over time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyoxymethylene#Degradation Planned obsolescence?

Fortunately the plain irrigation tubing is made from Low Density Polyethylene which is commonly used in food safe applications, but it "contains a minimum of 2% concentrated carbon black resin antioxidant" ... whatever that is. They say it helps prevent thermal damage in the sun.

I think I'm going to use the LDPE irrigation tubing I have now but replace the connectors with HDPE connectors from a local medical supply company.

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