Health issues contaminated water

In 1997, the Declaration of the Environment Leaders of the Eight on Children s Environmental Health acknowledged the special vulnerability of children and committed their countries to take action on several specific environmental health issues, such as chronic lead poisoning, microbiologically contaminated drinking-water, endocrine disrupting chemicals, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and poor air quality. 

Describe community health issues related to MCI events, specifically limiting exposure to selected agents contamination of water, air, and food supplies and shelter and protection of displaced persons. 

Aquatic lead pollution has been an environmental and public health issue since ancient times (3). Widespread use of lead pipes, lead-lined storage tanks, and pipes joined with lead-based solder led to contamination of drinking water... 

Leaded gasoline appeared on the industrialized scene in the United States and eventually elsewhere in the 1920s and reviews of this topic cover this period to the present (Graebner, 1987 Mushak and Mushak, 2000 Nriagu, 1990 Rosner and Markowitz, 1985). Lead as a drinking water contaminant became a public health issue with the growth of cities in Europe and America, catalyzed by the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath (Dana, 1848 McCord, 1954a multiple citations in later chapters). 

There is uncertainty as to what levels of MTBE in drinking water cause a risk to public health.9 U.S. EPA has issued an advisory suggesting that drinking water should not contain MTBE in concentrations >20-40 pg/L, based on taste and odor concerns, but has not issued a federal maximum contaminant level (MCL) for MTBE, which will be based on the ongoing U.S. EPA studies.1... 

First considered an environmental issue (e.g., hazardous materials spills contaminating the environmental media—air, water, and/or soil), chemical facility safety has been an issue of congressional interest for many years. Review of the historical incidents listed in sidebar 4.1 provides some perspective on the magnitude of the consequences that might result from terrorist attacks. Obviously, these incidents (and others) increase concern over the potential for release of toxic chemicals and the associated potential health impacts on surrounding areas. 

Accuracy in the laboratory is obviously an important issue. If the analysis results reported by a laboratory are not accurate, everything a company or government agency strives for, the entire TQM system, may be in jeopardy. If the customer discovers the error, especially through painful means, the trust the public has placed in the entire enterprise is lost. For example, if a baby dies due to nitrate contamination in drinking water that a city s health department had determined to be safe, that department, indeed the entire city government, is liable. In this "worst-case scenario," some employees would likely lose their jobs and perhaps even be brought to justice in a court of law. 

Suffet coedited with M. J. McGuire ADVANCES IN CHEMISTRY SERIES No. 202, Treatment of Water by Granular Activated Carbon, as well as a two-volume set, Activated Carbon Adsorption of Organics from the Aqueous Phase. He also edited a two-volume treatise, The Fate of Pollutants in the Air and Water Environments he was a journal editor for a special issue of the Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A—Environmental Science and Engineering and he served on the editorial board of the companion journal, Journal of Environ-mental Science and Health, Part B—Pesticides, Food Contaminants, and Agricultural Wastes. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals Chemosphere and CHEMTECH. He is now completing a 4-year term as treasurer of the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry. 

NAS/NRC (1989). National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council. Pharmacokinetics and the risk assessment of drinking water contaminants, page 108 in Drinking Water and Health, Volume 9 Selected Issues in Risk Assessment (National Academy Press, Washington). 

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