Water, Vol. 17, Pages 1743: Changes in Exposure to Arsenic Following the Installation of an Arsenic Removal Treatment in a Small Community Water System

Water doi: 10.3390/w17121743

Authors:
Lorraine Backer
Dorothy Stearns
Johnni Daniel
Rebecca Tomazin
David Harvey
Tad Williams
Laurie Peterson-Wright
Heather Strosnider
Mark Freedman
Fuyuen Yip

Arsenic in drinking water poses a threat to public health world-wide. In March 2001, the EPA revised the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic in drinking water downward from 50 µg/L to 10 µg/L and required all U.S. small community water systems (CWSs) and non-community water systems (NCWSs) to comply by 23 January 2006. Much of the financial burden associated with complying with and maintaining this new drinking water MCL was shouldered by local community governments. For example, the Walker River Paiute Tribe operated a CWS on the Walker River Paiute Indian Reservation that needed upgrading to meet the new arsenic MCL. In collaboration with the Walker River Paiute Tribe, we conducted a study to assess whether reducing the arsenic concentration in drinking water to meet the new MCL reduced the arsenic body burden in local community members who drank the water. Installing a drinking water treatment to remove arsenic dramatically reduced both the drinking water concentrations (to below the current EPA MCL of 10 µg/L) and the community members’ urinary concentrations of total As, AsIII, and AsV within a week of its full implementation. Additional assistance to small water systems to sustain new drinking water treatments may be warranted.

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Lorraine Backer www.mdpi.com