Dataset Information

Nitrate Levels in Rural Drinking Water in Belize.

ABSTRACT: Background:Health issues have been associated with the consumption of high levels of nitrates in drinking water. Rural agricultural communities in Belize play a large role in the economic growth of the country. These communities obtain drinking water directly from the ground and may be susceptible to nitrate consumption and at risk of developing diseases associated with nitrates. Objectives:The present study examined nitrate levels in Belize's rural water supply with the aim of assessing its suitability for human and livestock consumption. The study also provides baseline data for monitoring the concentration of nitrates to prevent public health hazards in Belize. Methods:Forty-three (43) water samples from reservoirs, wells, vats, and standpipes were collected from 40 villages in Belize and analyzed for nitrates using the cadmium reduction method. Nitrates were detected with an Orion® AquaMate® 8000 UV-Vis spectrophotometer at 520 nm. The Belize Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute laboratory analyzed all water samples for nitrates. Results:Except for four water samples from four different sites, all analyzed water samples were found to contain nitrate levels below 10 mg/L. Nitrate levels above 10 mg/L were seen in a few samples in the northern part of the country, probably due to agricultural activities in these areas. Conclusions:Belize's rural drinking water contains low levels of nitrates, except for a few villages where the levels exceeded the acceptable limit of 10 mg/L. Higher levels of nitrates detected in a few villages need regular evaluation and monitoring to avoid public health issues as well as prevent harm to livestock. Competing Interests:The authors declare no competing financial interests.

SUBMITTER: Husaini DC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7453821 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Nitrate Levels in Rural Drinking Water in Belize.

Husaini Danladi Chiroma DC Enriquez Andrea A Arzu Theslyn T Miranda Kelcia K Mossiah Denise D Cardinez Crystal C

Journal of health & pollution 20200819 27

<h4>Background</h4>Health issues have been associated with the consumption of high levels of nitrates in drinking water. Rural agricultural communities in Belize play a large role in the economic growth of the country. These communities obtain drinking water directly from the ground and may be susceptible to nitrate consumption and at risk of developing diseases associated with nitrates.<h4>Objectives</h4>The present study examined nitrate levels in Belize's rural water supply with the aim of as ...[more]

PMID: 32874760

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Low-income and minority communities often face disproportionately high pollutant exposures. The lead crisis in Flint, Michigan, has sparked concern about broader socioeconomic disparities in exposures to drinking water contaminants. Nitrate is commonly found in drinking water, especially in agricultural regions, and epidemiological evidence suggests elevated risk of cancer and birth defects at levels below U.S. EPA's drinking water standard (10?mg/L NO3-N). However, there have been no nationwide assessments of socioeconomic disparities in exposures to nitrate or other contaminants in U.S. drinking water. The goals of this study are to identify determinants of nitrate concentrations in U.S. community water systems (CWSs) and to evaluate disparities related to wealth or race/ethnicity. METHODS:We compiled nitrate data from 39,466?U.S. CWSs for 2010-2014. We used EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) to compile CWS characteristics and linked this information with both city- and county-level demographic data gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau. After applying multiple imputation methods to address censored nitrate concentration data, we conducted mixed-effects multivariable regression analyses at national and regional scales. RESULTS:5.6 million Americans are served by a CWS that had an average nitrate concentration???5?mg/L NO3-N between 2010 and 2014. Extent of agricultural land use and reliance on groundwater sources were significantly associated with nitrate. The percent of Hispanic residents served by each system was significantly associated with nitrate even after accounting for county-level cropland and livestock production, and CWSs in the top quartile of percent Hispanic residents exceeded 5?mg/L nearly three times as often as CWSs serving the lowest quartile. By contrast, the percent of residents living in poverty and percent African American residents were both inversely associated with nitrate. CONCLUSIONS:Epidemiological evidence for health effects associated with drinking water above 5?mg/L NO3-N raises concerns about increased risk for the 5.6 million Americans served by public water supplies with average nitrate concentrations above this level. The associations we observed between nitrate concentrations and proportions of Hispanic residents support the need for improved efforts to assist vulnerable communities in addressing contamination and protecting source waters. Future studies can extend our methods to evaluate disparities in exposures to other contaminants and links to health effects.

Project description:BackgroundNitrate contamination is seen in drinking water worldwide. Nitrate may pass the placental barrier. Despite suggestive evidence of fetal harm, the potential association between nitrate exposure from drinking water and pregnancy loss remains to be studied. We aimed to investigate if nitrate in drinking water was associated with the risk of pregnancy loss.MethodsWe conducted a nationwide cohort study of 100,410 pregnancies (enrolled around gestational week 11) in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) during 1996-2002. Spontaneous pregnancy losses before gestational week 22 were ascertained from the Danish National Patient Registry and DNBC pregnancy interviews. Using the national drinking water quality-monitoring database Jupiter, we estimated the individual and time-specific nitrate exposure by linking geocoded maternal residential addresses with water supply areas. The nitrate exposure was analyzed in spline models using a log-transformed continuous level or classified into five categories. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate associations between nitrate and pregnancy loss and used gestational age (days) as the time scale, adjusting for demographic, health, and lifestyle variables.ResultsNo consistent associations were found when investigating the exposure as a categorical variable and null findings were also found in trimester specific analyses. In the spline model using the continuous exposure variable, a modestly increased hazard of pregnancy loss was observed for the first trimester at nitrate exposures between 1 and 10 mg/L, with the highest. adjusted hazard ratio at 5 mg/L of nitrate of 1.16 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.34). This trend was attenuated in the higher exposure ranges.ConclusionNo association was seen between drinking water nitrate and the risk of pregnancy loss when investigating the exposure as a categorical variable. When we modelled the exposure as a continuous variable, a dose-dependent association was found between drinking water nitrate exposure in the first trimester and the risk of pregnancy loss. Very early pregnancy losses were not considered in this study, and whether survival bias influenced the results should be further explored.

Project description:Excess nitrate in drinking water is a human health concern, especially for young children. Public drinking water systems in violation of the 10 mg nitrate-N/L maximum contaminant level (MCL) must be reported in EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS). We used SDWIS data with random forest modeling to examine the drivers of nitrate violations across the conterminous U.S. and to predict where public water systems are at risk of exceeding the nitrate MCL. As explanatory variables, we used land cover, nitrogen inputs, soil/hydrogeology, and climate variables. While we looked at the role of nitrate treatment in separate analyses, we did not include treatment as a factor in the final models, due to incomplete information in SDWIS. For groundwater (GW) systems, a classification model correctly classified 79% of catchments in violation and a regression model explained 43% of the variation in nitrate concentrations above the MCL. The most important variables in the GW classification model were % cropland, agricultural drainage, irrigation-to-precipitation ratio, nitrogen surplus, and surplus precipitation. Regions predicted to have risk for nitrate violations in GW were the Central California Valley, parts of Washington, Idaho, the Great Plains, Piedmont of Pennsylvania and Coastal Plains of Delaware, and regions of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. For surface water (SW) systems, a classification model correctly classified 90% of catchments and a regression model explained 52% of the variation in nitrate concentration. The variables most important for the SW classification model were largely hydroclimatic variables including surplus precipitation, irrigation-to-precipitation ratio, and % shrubland. Areas at greatest risk for SW nitrate violations were generally in the non-mountainous west and southwest. Identifying the areas with possible risk for future violations and potential drivers of nitrate violations across U.S. can inform decisions on how source water protection and other management options could best protect drinking water.

Project description:BackgroundNitrate is a common water contaminant that has been associated with birth defects, although the evidence is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine whether maternal consumption of nitrate through drinking water is associated with an increased risk of congenital anomalies.MethodsThe study included a total of 348,250 singletons births from the state of Missouri between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2008. Individual-level birth defect data and maternal and child characteristics were obtained from the Missouri birth defects registry and state vital statistics records. Outcomes were linked with county-specific monthly estimates of the nitrate concentration in finished water, based on data collected for compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Standard. Poisson models were fit to examine the association between nitrate exposure and birth defects. Average nitrate exposure during the first trimester and over 12 months prior to birth were modeled as continuous variables. Sensitivity analyses included restriction of the sample to counties with <20% and <10% private well usage to reduce exposure misclassification as well as limiting the analyses to residents of rural counties only to account for potential confounding by urbanicity.ResultsEstimated water concentrations of nitrate were generally low and below the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level of 10 mg/L. Nitrate exposure was associated with a significantly increased risk of limb deficiencies (RR for 1 mg/L (RR1) = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.05, 1.51) in models without well restriction. Nitrate was also weakly associated with an increased risk of congenital heart defects (RR1 = 1.13, 95%CI = 0.93, 1.51) and neural tube defects (RR1 = 1.18, 95%CI = 0.93, 1.51) in models with well restriction (<10%).ConclusionThe positive associations found between nitrate exposure via drinking water and congenital abnormalities are largely consistent with some previous epidemiologic studies. The results of this study should be interpreted with caution given limitations in our ability to estimate exposures and the lack information on some risk factors for congenital abnormalities. Our findings may have serious policy implications given that exposure levels in our study were well below current EPA standards for nitrate in drinking water.

Dataset Information

Nitrate Levels in Rural Drinking Water in Belize.

Publications

Nitrate Levels in Rural Drinking Water in Belize.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets