Arsenic in drinking water-problems and solutions

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Viraraghavan ◽  
K. S. Subramanian ◽  
J. A. Aruldoss
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Ion Exchange ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Activated Alumina ◽  
Column Studies ◽  
Maximum Contaminant Level ◽  
Aluminum Salts ◽  
Contaminant Level

The current United States maximum contaminant level for arsenic in drinking water is set at 50 μg/l. Because of the cancer risks involved, Canada has already lowered the maximum contaminant level to 25 μg/l; the United States Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the current allowable level for arsenic with a view of lowering it significantly. Various treatment methods have been adopted to remove arsenic from drinking water. These methods include 1) adsorption-coprecipitation using iron and aluminum salts, 2) adsorption on activated alumina, activated carbon, and activated bauxite, 3) reverse osmosis, 4) ion exchange and 5) oxidation followed by filtration. Because of the promise of oxidation-filtration systems, column studies were conducted at the University of Regina to examine oxidation with KMnO4 followed by filtration using manganese greensand and iron-oxide coated sand to examine the removal of arsenic from drinking water; these results were compared with the data from ion exchange studies. These studies demonstrated that As (III) could be reduced from 200 μg/l to below 25 μg/l by the manganese greensand system. In the case of manganese greensand filtration, addition of iron in the ratio of 20:1 was found necessary to achieve this removal.

scholarly journals Arsenic Drinking Water Violations Decreased across the United States Following Revision of the Maximum Contaminant Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (19) ◽  
pp. 11478-11485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Foster ◽  
Michael J. Pennino ◽  
Jana E. Compton ◽  
Scott G. Leibowitz ◽  
Molly L. Kile
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
The United States ◽  
Maximum Contaminant Level ◽  
Contaminant Level

scholarly journals Michigan Oil and Gas Update

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Horn ◽  
Joshua D. Beard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Part C ◽  
Underground Injection ◽  
Injection Control

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (“EGLE”), formerly the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, is in the process of seeking primary enforcement responsibility from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) for its Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) program for Class II wells pursuant to Part C of the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”).

scholarly journals Review of perchlorate occurrence in large public drinking water systems in the United States of America

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-694
Author(s):  
Steven J. Luis ◽  
Elizabeth A. Miesner ◽  
Clarissa L. Enslin ◽  
Keith Heidecorn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Contaminant Monitoring ◽  
Public Drinking Water ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Public Drinking

Abstract When deciding whether or not to regulate a chemical, regulatory bodies often evaluate the degree to which the public may be exposed by evaluating the chemical's occurrence in food and drinking water. As part of its decision-making process, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) evaluated the occurrence of perchlorate in public drinking water by sampling public water systems (PWSs) as part of the first implementation of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 1) between 2001 and 2005. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the current representativeness of the UCMR 1 dataset. To achieve this objective, publicly available sources were searched to obtain updated perchlorate data for the majority of large PWSs with perchlorate detections under UCMR 1. Comparison of the updated and UCMR 1 perchlorate datasets shows that the UCMR 1 dataset is no longer representative because the extent and degree of occurrence has decreased since implementation of UCMR 1. Given this finding, it seems appropriate for regulatory bodies engaged in decision-making processes over several years to periodically re-evaluate the conditions that prompted the regulatory effort, thereby ensuring that rules and regulations address actual conditions of concern.

Occurrence of Viruses in Treated Drinking Water in the United States

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 689-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmer W. Akin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Virus Detection ◽  
Enteric Virus ◽  
Viral Disease ◽  
The United States ◽  
Contaminated Drinking Water ◽  
Treated Drinking Water ◽  
The U.S

Health concerns regarding waterborne transmission of enteric viruses began to develop around 1940 in the United States (U.S.) with the isolation of poliovirus from human feces and sewage. The implication of these isolations for the transmission of viral disease through contaminated drinking water stimulated research on methodology for virus detection, recovery and assessment from water. Although virus methods research is still an important area of study, relatively sensitive procedures became available during the past decade for recovering many enteric virus types from large-volume samples of drinking water. Controversy surrounded many of the early reported isolations of viruses from treated drinking water using these procedures due to the suspicion of laboratory contamination. The occurrence of viruses in drinking water treated by currently accepted procedures has still not been proven by the U.S. experience although the likelihood may be gaining support. However, a virus survey of 54 water supplies and extensive studies of two water systems by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not demonstrate viral contamination of treated water derived from surface sources.

scholarly journals The widespread and unjust drinking water and clean water crisis in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tom Mueller ◽  
Stephen Gasteyer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Water Crisis ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Community Water Systems ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
Using Data

AbstractMany households in the United States face issues of incomplete plumbing and poor water quality. Prior scholarship on this issue has focused on one dimension of water hardship at a time, leaving the full picture incomplete. Here we complete this picture by documenting the full scope of water hardship in the United States and find evidence of a regionally-clustered, socially unequal nationwide household water crisis. Using data from the American Community Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency, we show there are 489,836 households lacking complete plumbing, 1,165 community water systems in Safe Drinking Water Act Serious Violation, and 21,035 Clean Water Act permittees in Significant Noncompliance. Further, we demonstrate this crisis is regionally clustered, with the specific spatial pattern varying by the specific form of water hardship. Elevated levels of water hardship are associated with the social dimensions of rurality, poverty, indigeneity, education, and age—representing a nationwide environmental injustice.

Effect of NaCl on antimony and phthalate compounds leached from PET bottles

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 766-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piyawan Leechart ◽  
Duangrat Inthorn ◽  
Paitip Thiravetyan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
The United States ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Pet Bottles ◽  
Nacl Concentration ◽  
Inner Surface

Nowadays polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are commonly used as food containers as they are lightweight. PET bottles contain antimony (Sb) and phthalate compounds. In contact with food, antimony and phthalate molecules could migrate from the inner surface of a PET bottle to the food. Therefore, we studied the effect of NaCl concentration in PET bottles on the leakage of antimony and phthalates. It was found that the concentration of antimony leached into the solution was about 6 ngl−1 after 5 days storage at room temperature in the absence of NaCl. Increasing NaCl concentrations to 6% caused a decrease in the amount of soluble antimony in the solution to 2 ngl−1 under the same conditions. In addition, the maximum leakage of phthalate compounds of about 130 ngl−1 occurred after 35 days of storage at 60 °C in 0.1% NaCl. It was found that the leakage of phthalate compounds decreased at higher NaCl concentrations (NaCl 0.5%–30%). Higher NaCl concentrations led to a decrease in the migration of antimony and phthalate compounds into the solution. This might be due to the fact that antimony and phthalate compounds form complexes with NaCl. However, the leakage of these compounds was lower than the standard guidelines of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water.

scholarly journals Drinking water public right-to-know requirements in the United States

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (S1) ◽  
pp. 43-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Blette
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Right To Know ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Health Community ◽  
State Compliance ◽  
Utility Managers

The United States Environmental Protection Agency implements a national drinking-water program under the authority of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Amendments to the Act in 1996 added new provisions to enhance consumer understanding of drinking-water issues. Notification requirements associated with annual consumer confidence reports, source water assessments and state compliance reports are intended to enhance the public's knowledge of the quality of their drinking water. Water utilities are also subject to public notification requirements to provide more timely information to consumers in response to violations of health standards. These right-to-know requirements are intended to build the public's confidence, but communicating with consumers can be challenging for both utility managers and government leaders. This paper discusses the need for timely communication, the challenge of providing information when there is uncertainty in the science and the importance of preparing to respond to critical incidents. Because surveys have shown that other members of the community may have better access to consumers or are more trusted, it is important for water utilities to establish relationships with the media and the local public health community.

Water Quality Violations

Pained ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 15-18
Author(s):  
Michael D. Stein ◽  
Sandro Galea
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Contaminated Water ◽  
The University

This chapter focuses on water quality violations in America. Most Americans have access to safe drinking water. However, there are pockets of American communities that are afflicted with high levels of contaminated water. In 2015, almost 10% of Americans were drinking contaminated water that violated water quality standards. The chapter then evaluates research at the University of California, Irvine, which examined water quality violations across the United States from 1982 to 2015. Researchers analyzed geographic and temporal patterns, with the goal of helping state enforcement agencies focus their attention on areas at high risk of contamination. The researchers cite decreasing population size and incomes as common obstacles faced by rural populations trying to follow water purification standards. Indeed, rural towns often rely on outside funding and low-interest government loans to support infrastructure to correct water quality violations. However, as of June 2017, over $600 million in grant funding was cut from Environmental Protection Agency drinking water programs. Such cuts, coupled with attempted environmental deregulation, threaten the public’s health.

scholarly journals Research needs in drinking water: a basis in regulations in the United States

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph G. Jacangelo ◽  
Daniel J. Askenaizer ◽  
Kellogg Schwab
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ◽  
Emerging Pathogens ◽  
Butyl Ether ◽  
Tertiary Butyl ◽  
Available Information

Regulations are one of the primary drivers for research on contaminants in drinking water in the United States. Since the original Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), enacted in 1974, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has developed a series of drinking water regulations. These regulations are focused on protecting public health. When evaluating available information on whether or not to regulate a constituent in drinking water, USEPA considers available information on health effects and occurrence of the constituent. The authors provide their view of the research needed for these contaminants. For inorganics, more data are needed on perchlorate. For organics, greater treatment and health effects information is warranted for N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Finally, more research is needed on analytical methods for noroviruses and other emerging pathogens.

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