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Cyanotoxins: Practical Solutions Needed
Author(s) -
Roberson J. Alan,
Carpenter Adam T.
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.2015.107.0158
Subject(s) - environmental health , agency (philosophy) , public health , advisory committee , environmental science , health assessment , geography , medicine , political science , public administration , nursing , sociology , social science , pathology
On June 17, 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) released health advisories for two cyanotoxins (2015c). The 10‐day health advisory levels for microcystins are 0.3 Μg/L for children of preschool age or younger and 1.6 Μg/L for ages 6 and up. Similarly, the 10‐day health advisory levels for cylindrospermopsin are 0.7 Μg/L for children of preschool age or younger and 3.0 Μg/L for ages 6 and up. At the same time, USEPA also released a set of recommendations for public water systems on the basis of these health advisories (2015d). Depending on how state primacy agencies use these advisories and recommendations, a fair number of “do not drink/do not boil water” orders may have occurred over the summer as a result of warmer temperatures and algal blooms. So these four numbers and the related recommendations create a complicated situation that needs some practical solutions for the drinking water community.