The World Health Agency (WHO) has developed some background documents for cyanotoxins which will be included in the second addendum to the fourth edition of the WHO’s Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality and is looking for comments by Jan 12, 2020.
In this article, the authors indicate that they have developed an “oversimplified ‘lead in water equation’ to explain key variables controlling the presence of lead in drinking water to better inform public health practitioners, government officials, utility personnel, and concerned residents.”
The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) is looking for input into the draft Canadian Groundwater Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health for 101 contaminants of concern. It is available for public review and comment until January 10, 2020.
The USEPA has come out with a news release on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Among other things is the announcement of five IRIS assessments (compounds named below) and the timing of the drinking water regulatory determination for PFOA and PFOS (by the end of this year).
A story on lead in drinking water appeared in the Toronto Star today and from what I understand has appeared or will appear on Global News TV outlets across the country as well.
Hi all…a story on fluoride in today’s National Post may lead to inquires for drinking water providers. It is entitled “A study linking fluoride exposure in pregnancy to lower IQ scores in boys is unnecessarily frightening people into avoiding fluoridated water, researchers say.”
Two papers on full-scale/demonstration-scale evaluations of UV-LED for disinfection have been recently published (below). Both tested the world's first commercial UVC LED water disinfection reactor (the PearlAqua by Aquisense) and successfully demonstrated “proof-of-concept for the application of UVC LEDs for municipal water treatment.” UV LED technology continues to be a promising alternative to UV mercury lamp-based systems.
Hi all…following up from the WHO report on microplastics that I recently circulated, the UK Water Industry Research Limited has just released a report entitled “Sink to River - River to Tap - A review of potential risks from nano-particles & microplastics.”
Hi all…the WHO has released a lengthy report entitled ‘Microplastics in Drinking Water’. It is a good compilation of potential issues associated with microplastics and is available for free download. There is also an Information sheet: Microplastics in drinking-water which provides key messages and answers to some common questions. This may be even more useful than the report for some of you.
In response to my recent emails dealing with waterborne disease outbreaks, I was directed to an article in the Toronto Star published in May 2018 which really got my attention. I think that as water professionals this is an article we should all read when we have a few minutes.
