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Drinking Water and Water-related Issues
Chemical
Contaminants in Drinking Water and Public Health
The public health
issues associated with water quality typically focus on drinking water.
Technologic advances in watershed protection, drinking-water treatment
processes, and drinking-water distribution system management and
protection have improved the CDC's ability to ensure that most
waterborne agents responsible for human illness are removed and/or
inactivated. The CDC is fully involved in addressing the critical
public health issues of exposure assessment, definition of adverse
health outcomes, biomonitoring, and illness prevention.
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As
part of the treatment process, drinking water may be disinfected to
reduce microbial contamination. However, the disinfectants (e.g.,
chlorine) can react with organic matter in the water, producing
disinfection by-products (DBPs). CDC is conducting studies that focus
on different components of the public health impact of DBPs.
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The
association between the quality of water used in food production and
subsequent transmission of human illness is not completely understood.
CDC is investigating the relative importance of irrigation source
water and methods, the sanitary conditions on farms, and the hygienic
practices of harvesting crews on microbial contamination of produce
items that are usually eaten raw.
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Many
chemical contaminants present in drinking water sources, such as
pesticides or naturally-occurring toxins, are not removed by standard
drinking water treatment processes. Some of the relevant projects
include the following:
- A multiphase
project to assess the extent of human exposure to blue-green
algae toxins in drinking water and to identify potential human
health outcomes associated with these exposures.
- An
investigation of human exposure to methyl-tert butyl ether
(MTBE) in drinking water that has been contaminated by gasoline
spills and storage tank leaks.
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