Drinking water limit

From the analytical point of view there is no essential difference between drinking water and groundwater. Therefore, it is sufficient if the enforcement method is validated only for either drinking water or groundwater. The LOQ for drinking water/ groundwater must be <0.1 qgL (EU drinking water limit). 

As seen from Figure 2-6, information is available regarding death, systemic effects, and neurological effects in humans after inhalation and oral exposure to chloroform. In addition, information is available regarding carcinogenic effects in humans after oral exposure to chlorinated drinking water. Limited information is available regarding dermal effects in humans after exposure to chloroform. 

The US EPA set a drinking water limit of 0.2 parts per billion (ppb) of lindane. Industrial dumping sites such as the one in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania contain an estimated 400 tons of lindane waste and other waste dumped over a 50-year period on 30 acres of land. The runoffs from this site as well as others have the potential to contaminate drinking water with lindane. Lindane is regularly detected in surface water in the United States (see US Geological Survey monitoring studies). 

Sediments in the Mississippi River were accidentally contaminated with a low-level radioactive waste material that leaked from a nuclear power plant on the river. Pore water concentrations of radioactive compounds were measured following the spill and found to be 10 g/m over a 2-mm depth. The water contamination was 30% radioactive cesium ( Cs), with a half-life of 30 years, and 70% radioactive cobalt ( °Co), with a half-life of 6 years. Objections by the local residents are preventing clean-up efforts because some professor at the local state university convinced them that dredging the sediments and placing them in a disposal facility downstream would expose the residents to still more radioactivity. The state has decided that the sediments should be capped with 10 cm of clay and needs a quick estimate of the diffusion of radioactive material through the clay cap (Figure E2.8.1). If the drinking water limit (10 g/m ) is reached at mid-depth in the cap, the state will increase its thickness. Will this occur ... 

Recommended drinking water limits Ambient water quality criteria to protect human health ingesting water and organisms... 

The Environmental Protection Agency drinking water limit is 1.3 ppm. The median concentration of copper in natural water is 4-10 ppb. 

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water limit for radium-226 and radium-228 combined is 5 pCil. EPA s limit for maximum soil concentration for radium-226 in uranium and... 

Table 4.5.2 Comparison of the concentrations of some trace elements measured in the Meuse River at Eijsden with EQS values and drinking water limits...

Hanson, D. 1992. Drinking water limits set for 23 more compounds. Chem. [Pg.571]

Reference 23, Table 7 and "Drinking Water Limits Set for 23 More Compounds," Chem. Eng. News, 1992, 70(14)9 19. 

Toluene. Compared to benzene, toluene s toxicity is very low. Whereas very high concentration exposures are needed to cause death, moderate ones may affect the nervous system. There is no evidence for the carcinogenicity of toluene. Eor air, the OSHA has set a limit of 200 ppm in the workplace and the EPA s drinking water limit is set at 1 mg/1. 

REGULATORY STATUS Criterion to protect freshwater aquatic life insufficient data Criterion to protect saltwater aquatic life insufficient data Criterion to protect human health 5 mg/L set by EPA based on organoleptic properties standards set include for drinking water Germany 2,000 pg/L, USSR 1,000 pg/L, in estuaries Mexico 10,000 pg/L, for coastal waters Mexico 10 pg/L, for surface water USSR 1,000 pg/L, in water for fishery purposes USSR 10 pg/L, in water for esthetic quality WHO 5,000 pg/L Kansas has set a drinking water limit of 5 mg/L... 

Both quick- and slaked lime are used in the treatment of drinking water. Limits for minor and trace elements for this application are given in section 28.1.8. 

The acute toxic dose of bromate (expressed as bromate) for a 70-kg individual is estimated at about 3 g (Dreisbach and Robertson, 1987). As a typical person will consume 2 litres of tap water per day, this would correspond to a bromate concentration of 1500 mg/L acute concentration . This is 150 000 times higher than the statutory EC drinking water limit concentration of 10 pg/L (Council Directive, 1998), which can be regarded as a chronic toxicity safe limit. 

Many other countries have their own legislation on the quality of drinking water, for exaiiple, Japan. The Japanese legislation is similar to the European one in that it does not specify how the analysis should be performed. The Japanese drinking water limits are given in Table 9.8. 

Some jurisdiction observe a 1.5mg/L limit, based on a multiple of the 0.015 mg/L drinking water limit. 

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