Premium
Lead Particles in Potable Water
Author(s) -
Triantafyllidou Simoni,
Parks Jeffrey,
Edwards Marc
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.2007.tb07959.x
Subject(s) - environmental science , particulates , lead (geology) , potable water , environmental chemistry , lead poisoning , environmental engineering , chemistry , biology , materials science , metallurgy , paleontology , organic chemistry
The occurrence of particulate lead in drinking water deserves increased scrutiny. This is especially true because models of human exposure to lead, sampling protocols, analytical methods, and environmental assessments are often based on the presumed dominance of soluble lead in drinking water. Recent cases of childhood lead poisoning were tied to solder particles that detached from the plumbing and contaminated the potable water supply. In cases such as these, common samplehandling procedures can “miss” particulate lead present in water samples. In some instances, the actual amount of lead present in drinking water samples may be five times higher than that obtained using approved protocols. The presence of chloride, warmer temperature, and lower pH in the human stomach may render a significant fraction of this “missed” particulate lead as bioavailable when ingested.