Drinking water perchlorate

Another groundwater contaminant that can be removed by reduction reactions is perchlorate. Ammonium perchlorate is a solid rocket fuel, and wastes from its manufacturing have contaminated some irrigation and drinking water sources, among them the lower Colorado River in the American Southwest. Elevated perchlorate levels have been linked to human health effects, and because perchlorate has been found in vegetable crops such as lettuce, there is concern that this contamination could have serious consequences. 

Determination of Perchlorate in Drinking Water using Inline Column Concentration/Matrix Elimination Ion... 

Exposure of humans to perchlorate via foodstuffs and drinking water has been documented [241]. Urine, breast milk, amniotic fluid, saliva, and blood have been used as matrices in biomonitoring of human exposures to perchlorate [233, 242-253] (Table 10). Assessment of human exposures to perchlorate is important, since this compound blocks iodine uptake in the thyroid gland, which can lead to a decrease in the production of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) essential for neurodevelopment [260]. 

Studies of low-dose perchlorate exposure in healthy human subjects A small number of studies have been published investigating the effects of low doses of perchlorate in thyroid function in healthy adults (without thyroid disease). One study was conducted in healthy male volunteers, involving the administration of 10 mg of perchlorate in drinking water for 14 days. A significant decrease in the uptake of iodine by the thyroid was observed at this dose, but there was no evidence of adverse effects on thyroid hormones or TSH concentrations [262]. Another recent study was conducted in healthy adults to determine the highest dose of perchlorate at which there is no effect on the uptake of iodine by the thyroid gland [263]. 

Li FX, Byrd DM, Deyhle GM, Sesser DE, Skeels MR, Katkowsky SR, Lamm SH (2000) Neonatal thyroid-stimulating hormone level and perchlorate in drinking water. Teratology... 

Amitai Y, Winston G, Sack J, Wasser J, Lewis M, Blount BC, Valentin-Blasini L, Fisher N, Israeli A, Leventhal A (2007) Gestational exposure to high perchlorate concentrations in drinking water and neonatal thyroxine levels. Thyroid 17 843-850... 

Kannan K, Praamsma M, Oldi IF, Kunisue T, Sinha RK (2009) Occurrence of perchlorate in drinking water, groundwater, surface water and human saliva from India. Chemosphere 76 22-26... 

Tellez R, Chacon PM, Crump KS, Blount BC, Gibbs JP (2005) Chronic environmental exposure to perchlorate through drinking water and thyroid function during pregnancy and the neonatal period. Thyroid 15 963-975... 

Wu Q, Zhang T, Sun H, Kannan K (2010) Perchlorate in drinking water, groundwater, surface waters and bottled water from China, and its association with other inorganic anions and with disinfection byproducts. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 58 543-550... 

Crump C, Michaud P, Tellez R, Reyes C, Gonzalez G, Montgomery EL, Crump KS, Lobo G, Becerra C, Gibbs JP (2000) Does perchlorate in drinking water affect thyroid function in newborns or school-age children J Occup Environ Med 42 603-612... 

Li EX, Squartsoff L, Lamm SH (2001) Prevalence of thyroid diseases in Nevada counties with respect to perchlorate in drinking water. J Occup Environ Med 43 630-634... 

Lamb J. D., Simpson D., Jensen B. D., Gardner J. S. Peterson Q. P. Determination of perchlorate in drinking water by ion chromatography using macrocycle-based concentration and separation methods. Journal of Chromatography A 2006 1118(1) 100-105. 

Figure 5-3 shows a strong matrix effect in the analysis of perchlorate (CIO4 ) by mass spectrometry. Perchlorate at a level above 18 p,g/L in drinking water is of concern because it can reduce thyroid hormone production. Standard solutions of C104 in pure water gave the upper calibration curve in Figure 5-3. The response to standard solutions with the same concentrations of CIO4 in groundwater was 15 times less, as shown in the lower curve. Reduction of the ClOj" signal is a matrix effect attributed to other anions present in the groundwater.

Hautman, D. P., Munch, D. J., Eaton, A. D., and Haghani, A. W. (1999) EPA Method 314.0, Determination of Perchlorate in Drinking Water using Ion chromatography. Revision 1.0, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Lamb, J. D., Simpson, D., Jensen, B., and Peterson, Q. (2004), 18-crown-6 as an Eluent Additive for the Ion Chromatographic Determination of Perchlorate in Drinking Water, in preparation. 

Perchlorates, which inhibit iodine uptake by the thyroid gland, reducing T4 and T3 synthesis, constitute another class of environmental chemicals that affect thyroid function. In the past, high doses of these compounds were used to treat hyperthyroidism. In recent years, there has been concern that contamination of drinking-water... 

Brechner RJ, Parkhurst GD, Humble WO, Brown MB, Herman WH (2000) Ammonium perchlorate contamination of Colorado River drinking water is associated with abnormal thyroid function in newborns in Arizona. J Occup Environ Med, 42 777-782. 

Lamm SH Doemland M (1999) Has perchlorate in drinking water increased the rate of congenital hypothyroidism J Occup Environ Med, 41 409-411. 

The presence of perchlorate is one of the most topical discussions concerning drinking water in USA (Urbansky and Schock 1999 Gu and Coates 2006). Recently, Massachusetts and California set a limiting concentration of 6 ppb and 2 ppb for perchlorate in drinking water. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an interim drinking water health advisory of 15 ppb. 

Perchlorate formation in drinking water electrolysis is a serious problem. In experiments using a semitechnical bipolar cell with BDD electrodes and drinking water (40 ppm chloride) even for the lowest current density applied (50 A m-2) perchlorate was measured at 30ppb using a residence time of approximately 1 s. This behaviour does not recommend BDD cells for drinking water treatment without additional measures. 

Bergmann, H., Rollin, J., Czichos, C. and Roemer, D. (2007b) Perchlorate analysis in drinking water electrolysis-a new application for Ion Chromatography (in German). Labo, 26-28. 

Bergmann, M.E.H., Rollin, J. and Iourtchouk, T. (2009) The occurrence of perchlorate during drinking water electrolysis using BDD electrodes. Electrochim. Acta 54, 2102-2107. 

Jackson, A., Arunagiri, S., Tock, R., Anderson, T. and Rainwater, K. (2004) Technical note Electrochemical generation of perchlorate in municipal drinking water systems. J. AWWA 96, 103-108. 

Urbansky, E.T. and Schock, M.R. (1999) Issues in managing the risks associated with perchlorate in drinking water. J. Environ. Manage. 56, 79-95. 

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