Reprint

Drinking Water Quality and Human Health

Edited by
April 2019
374 pages
  • ISBN978-3-03897-726-1 (Paperback)
  • ISBN978-3-03897-727-8 (PDF)

This book is a reprint of the Special Issue Drinking Water Quality and Human Health that was published in

Environmental & Earth Sciences
Medicine & Pharmacology
Public Health & Healthcare
Summary

The quality of drinking water is paramount for public health. Despite important improvements in the last decades, access to safe drinking water is not universal. The World Health Organization estimates that almost 10% of the population in the world do not have access to improved drinking water sources. Among other diseases, waterborne infections cause diarrhea, which kills nearly one million people every year, mostly children under 5 years of age. On the other hand, chemical pollution is a concern in high-income countries and an increasing problem in low- and middle-income countries. Exposure to chemicals in drinking water may lead to a range of chronic non-communicable diseases (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease), adverse reproductive outcomes, and effects on children’s health (e.g., neurodevelopment), among other health effects. Although drinking water quality is regulated and monitored in many countries, increasing knowledge leads to the need for reviewing standards and guidelines on a nearly permanent basis, both for regulated and newly identified contaminants. Drinking water standards are mostly based on animal toxicity data, and more robust epidemiologic studies with accurate exposure assessment are needed. The current risk assessment paradigm dealing mostly with one-by-one chemicals dismisses the potential synergisms or interactions from exposures to mixtures of contaminants, particularly at the low-exposure range. Thus, evidence is needed on exposure and health effects of mixtures of contaminants in drinking water. Finally, water stress and water quality problems are expected to increase in the coming years due to climate change and increasing water demand by population growth, and new evidence is needed to design appropriate adaptation policies.

 

This Special Issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on the current state of knowledge on the links between drinking water quality and human health.

Format
  • Paperback
License
© 2019 by the authors; CC BY-NC-ND licence
Keywords
Vibrio pathogens; rural water resources; public health; sub-Saharan Africa; diarrhoeal disease; HWTS implementation; water and sanitation; drinking water guidance; infant exposure; chemical risk assessment; duration extrapolation; acute gastroenteritis; risk; tap water; time series study; turbidity; urban area; water operation data; THMs; cancer; effect measure modification; drinking water; drinking water; exposure assessment; sodium; potassium; magnesium; calcium; spatial variations; Denmark; water safety plans; drinking water quality; risk management; impact assessment; Asia-Pacific region; diarrhea; fever; cough; Nigeria; infant health; drinking water; inorganic manganese; health-based guideline; infants; pharmaceuticals; human health; environment; drug labels; screening method; LTD; uncertainty factors; risk assessment; risk context; biomonitoring; dental health; drinking water; fluoride; pharmacokinetic modeling; waterborne disease outbreak; simulation study; health insurance data; space–time detection; drinking water; nitrate; cancer; adverse reproductive outcomes; methemoglobinemia; thyroid disease; endogenous nitrosation; N-nitroso compounds; E. coli; monitoring; drinking water; water safety plan; sanitary inspection; gravity-fed piped water scheme; risk management; chlorination by-product; France; environmental exposure; organic matter; tap water; trihalomethanes; private wells; groundwater; drinking water; animal feeding operation; fecal coliforms; enterococci; E. coli; Maryland; nitrite; disinfection by-product; drinking water distribution systems; seasonality; atrazine; community water system; low birth weight; preterm birth; small for gestational age; water contamination; endocrine disruptor; drinking water; radioactivity; annual effective dose; carcinogenic; chronic kidney disease; end-stage renal disease; water contaminants; zinc; ammonia; chemical oxygen demand; dissolved oxygen; arsenic; n/a