Drinking Water

A recently published peer reviewed paper in the journal ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’ reports that “on the basis of circumstantial evidence, fecal aerosol transmission may have caused the community outbreak of COVID-19 in this high-rise building.” Fecal aerosolization and droplet production are nothing new when it comes to our understanding of pathogen risks, with some early papers having been published nearly 50 years ago.

A key and somewhat unexpected outcome was that “no evidence of hepatotoxicity was found. These results shed more light onto the effects (or lack of effects) of low-dose oral microcystin-LR exposure. The data suggest that the risk of oral microcystin-LR exposure may be overestimated.” Hepatotoxicity is an important consideration for regulation.

The study reports that “viral attack on cHABs may contribute to changes in community composition during blooms, as well as bloom decline, yet loss of bloom biomass does not eliminate the threat of cHAB toxicity. Rather, it may increase risks to the public by delivering a pool of dissolved toxin directly into water treatment utilities when the dominating Microcystis spp. are capable of producing microcystins.

an interesting ‘perspective’ on lead in drinking water appeared in today’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It appears to be freely accessible. It starts with “How Flint Happened, How it Happens Today, and How to Stop it Tomorrow” and ends with a “Call for Renewed Commitment to Lead Corrosion Science and Engineering.

an interesting ‘perspective’ on lead in drinking water appeared in today’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It appears to be freely accessible. It starts with “How Flint Happened, How it Happens Today, and How to Stop it Tomorrow” and ends with a “Call for Renewed Commitment to Lead Corrosion Science and Engineering.

an interesting ‘perspective’ on lead in drinking water appeared in today’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It appears to be freely accessible. It starts with “How Flint Happened, How it Happens Today, and How to Stop it Tomorrow” and ends with a “Call for Renewed Commitment to Lead Corrosion Science and Engineering.

Health Canada continues to be active with requests for public comment on proposed drinking water guidelines and guidance documents. At present, there are 4 of these with due dates for comments in the next three months. I’ve listed them below along with the due dates for comments. Each is linked to the Health Canada website with PDF format documents which can be downloaded.

an interesting ‘perspective’ on lead in drinking water appeared in today’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It appears to be freely accessible. It starts with “How Flint Happened, How it Happens Today, and How to Stop it Tomorrow” and ends with a “Call for Renewed Commitment to Lead Corrosion Science and Engineering.

Hi all…a just published article in ‘Science of the Total Environment’ has some good per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) survey data from raw source and treated drinking water as well as some good news attributed to risk management measures (RMMs) imposed on the manufacture and use of select PFAS. The study [...]