Dataset Information

Applying a cumulative risk framework to drinking water assessment: a commentary.

ABSTRACT: The health risks of drinking water contaminants and the economic benefits of drinking water standards are typically assessed one chemical at a time, an approach that misses the health impacts of co-occurring contaminants in drinking water. In contrast, a cumulative risk framework has become common in air quality evaluations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Toxics Assessment. We posit that the drinking water field would benefit from making the transition to a unified assessment framework for multiple contaminants that can overcome the long-standing challenge of treating cancer and non-cancer contaminants separately. Here we present a cumulative risk methodology that combines a risk-based cancer metric with a weighted health indicator index for non-cancer contaminants and incorporates disability weights from the Global Burden of Disease study. Our methodology generates a numeric toxicity score reflecting the potential health impacts for the sum of contaminants present in each sample of drinking water. Further research is needed to refine the risk and toxicity parameters for specific contaminants and to address the mode of interaction between co-occurring chemicals. As this cumulative risk model goes through future refinements, we anticipate that it would provide information that can help communities and policy makers evaluate different options for drinking water treatment.

SUBMITTER: Stoiber T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6489338 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Applying a cumulative risk framework to drinking water assessment: a commentary.

Stoiber Tasha T Temkin Alexis A Andrews David D Campbell Chris C Naidenko Olga V OV

Environmental health : a global access science source 20190430 1

The health risks of drinking water contaminants and the economic benefits of drinking water standards are typically assessed one chemical at a time, an approach that misses the health impacts of co-occurring contaminants in drinking water. In contrast, a cumulative risk framework has become common in air quality evaluations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Toxics Assessment. We posit that the drinking water field would benefit from making the transition to a unifie ...[more]

PMID: 31036021

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Project description:Despite the relative prosperity of Scandinavian countries, contamination of the drinking water supply with parasites has occurred on various occasions in the last few decades. These events have resulted in outbreaks of disease involving several thousand cases and/or the necessity for implementation of boil-water advisories. Against this background, in 2008, and again in 2019, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority requested a risk assessment from an independent scientific body regarding parasites in Norwegian drinking water. On each occasion, it was requested that specific questions were addressed. For the first assessment, data, both of general relevance and specific for Norway, were collected from appropriate sources, as available. Based on some of this information, a quantitative probability model was established and run to estimate the number of cases of waterborne cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis that may be expected in Norway, both in the general public and the immunocompromised, and under conditions where water treatment should be optimal, and also when water treatment efficacy may be compromised by weather conditions. For the second assessment, approximately a decade after the first, an update on the previous assessment was requested. Differences in information availability and other changes between the two assessments were described; although more data were available at the second assessment, considerable gaps still remained. For both assessments, data on the occurrence of these parasites in the Norwegian population, particularly those infected in Norway, were considered a challenge. However, due to changes in reporting requirements in 2020, the situation was improved for the second assessment. In addition, data were lacking for both assessments on whether animals or humans are most likely to contaminate water sources, and the species and genotypes of these parasites in Norwegian animals. It was also noted that some of the newer data on parasite numbers detected in water samples should be treated with caution. Due to this, further modelling was not conducted. The relevance of risk-based sampling rather than ad hoc sampling of water sources was also addressed. Despite the data gaps, this article provides an overview of the opportunities provided by conducting such assessments. In addition, some of the challenges encountered in attempting to estimate the risk posed from parasite contamination of water sources in Norway, particularly under predicted conditions of climate change, are described.

Dataset Information

Applying a cumulative risk framework to drinking water assessment: a commentary.

Publications

Applying a cumulative risk framework to drinking water assessment: a commentary.

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