Drinking water containing nickel

House hold drinking water contains less than the EPA mandated tolerance levels of antimony and nickel. Drinking water is therefore safe. 

Nickel is commonly ingested with food, and is found at low levels in drinking water. Elemental nickel, nickel oxide, and nickel subsulfide, may occur as a particulate or adsorbed onto other particles in ambient air. Nickel carbonyl is a highly reactive gas, with a half-life in air of 100s, and so exposure would occur only in the immediate vicinity of a release. Skin exposure may occur during contact with nickel-containing products (e.g., jewelry). 

Nickel affects reproduction of selected mammals. Drinking water containing 5.0 mg Ni/L - equivalent to 0.2-0.4mg Ni/kg BW daily - had adverse effects on rat reproduction and iron metabolism. Dogs given the equivalent of 1.3 mg Ni/kg BW daily had decreased litter survival. Nickel is known to cross the placental barrier and reach the fetus in mammals and humans. More information is needed on the effects of in utero nickel exposure in pregnant women. Such information may be obtained using appropriate animal models. Multigenerational inhalation studies are recommended to determine if developmental effects result from both inhalation and oral exposure. 

Dietary equivalent of >1.4 mg Ni/kg BW daily for 2 years nickel chloride or nickel sulfate Drinking water 5 mg/L lifetime exposure 5 mg/L for 3 generations diets contained 0.31 mg Ni/kg FW ration... 

Nickel normally occurs at very low levels in the environment, and therefore, very sensitive methods are needed to detect nickel in most environmental samples. You may be exposed to nickel by breathing air, drinking water, eating food, or smoking tobacco containing nickel. 

You eat about 170 micrograms (pg 1 pg = 1,000 ng) of nickel in your food every day. Foods naturally high in nickel include chocolate, soy beans, nuts, and oatmeal. Our daily intake of nickel from drinking water is only about 2 pg. We breathe in between 0.1 and 1 pg nickel/day, excluding nickel in tobacco smoke. We are exposed to nickel when we handle coins and touch other metals containing nickel. 

The 1993 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation contains standards for 84 chemicals and minerals in drinking water. According to the EPA one of the most prevalent of the listed contaminants is naturally occuring antimony. The maximum contaminant level for antimony and nickel has been set at 0.006 mg/L and 0.1 mg/L respectively. 

Most species of mammals had normal growth and survival during chronic exposure to diets equivalent to 0.8-40.0 mg Ni/kg BW daily. Reduced growth and survival sometimes occurred when sensitive species of wildlife were fed diets containing 500.0-2500.0 mg Ni/kg ration, equivalent to 10.0-50.0 mg Ni/kg BW daily. Proposed criteria for nickel by way of the diet or drinking water range from 2.0 p-g total Ni/kg BW daily to 443.0 p,g total Ni g BW daily for soluble nickel compounds, less than 1.0 mg Ni/kg FW diet, and less than... 

Nickel levels in terrestrial and aquatic organisms can vary over several orders of magnitude, according to the species and environmental factors [9,10]. Typical atmospheric nickel levels range from about 5 to 35 ng/m at rural and urban areas [3]. This does mean an average daily uptake of nickel between 0.1 and 0.7 xg by inhalation. Drinking water from public water supplies usually contains less than 20 p.g Ni/liter but occasionally nickel may be released from fittings in concentrations up to 500 (xg Ni/liter [11]. 

Some advanced industrial nations have established strict guidelines for water supply facilities to protect their citizens from the adverse effects of toxicity and hazardous materials. Some countries have set up maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) beyond which the drinking water is considered unhealthy. The MCL established by the United States for lead is 0.05 mg/L and for cadmium is 0.01 mg/L. The United States has not defined an MCL for nickel. Specific detailed on adverse effects of lead, cadmium, mercury, nickel, and their compounds are well documented in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list. This list contains the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) for chemicals, and the list is updated every five years. 

The TCLP specifically requires analyzing a liquid waste extract to determine whether it contains unacceptably high concentrations (Table 12) of any of eight toxic metal constituents identified in the USEPA National Interim Primary Drinking Water Standards. These are arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, and silver. Some states have added copper, nickel, and zinc to this list. 

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