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Iodine Addition to Drinking Water for Perchlorate Mitigation: Engineering Feasibility
Author(s) -
Wildman Claire F.,
Gandhi Deepa H.,
Kavanaugh Michael C.
Publication year - 2015
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 - 10.5942/jawwa.2015.107.0067
Subject(s) - perchlorate , iodine , environmental science , water supply , environmental chemistry , water treatment , chemistry , environmental engineering , environmental health , ion , medicine , organic chemistry
Perchlorate, a persistent inorganic anion known to inhibit iodine uptake, has been detected in drinking water at low concentrations (<20 μg/L), which will require treatment if a federal maximum contaminant level is established below this level. Toxicological modeling suggests that addition of ≤1.5 μg/L of iodine (as I 2 ) to drinking water may effectively offset the potential thyroidal health impacts of exposure to ≤20 μg/L perchlorate in drinking water. This paper evaluates the engineering feasibility of iodation of drinking water to mitigate risk from low levels of perchlorate. Cost estimates demonstrate that iodation, analogous to fluoridation in implementation, could be significantly less expensive than conventional technologies: cost per 1,000 gal treated by iodation ranges from $0.01 to $0.07, versus from $0.37 to $0.67 for ion exchange and from $0.41 to $0.47 for water blending, depending on the system's size. Further evaluation of other toxicological, regulatory, and public acceptance aspects of this approach is merited.