Due
to the potential health risks at very low concentrations, the
criterion for arsenic in drinking water has been debated. High-income,
low-dose countries are uniquely positioned to follow WHO’s
recommendation of keeping concentrations “as low as reasonably
possible.” In this policy analysis, 47646 arsenic analyses
from Denmark are used to follow the effect of lowering the national
criterion from 50 to 5 μg/L. The first 3 years (2002–2004)
following the criterion change, 106 waterworks were identified as
noncompliant. An additional 64 waterworks were identified as noncompliant
in the next 12 years (2005–2016). Of the 106 waterworks initially
(2002–2004) aware of the violation, an average concentration
drop from 6 to 3 μg/L was observed during a 6 year period following
a lag time of 1 year. After this point, no further improvements were
observed. Thirteen years after regulation was imposed, 25 of 170 waterworks
were still in violation. The results suggest that legislation alone
is insufficient to ensure better drinking water quality at some waterworks
and that stakeholders’ drivers and barriers to change also
play an important role. In an exploration of five legislation scenarios,
this study showed that a criterion of 1 μg/L would require action
by more than 500 Danish waterworks, with treatment costs from 0.06
to 0.70 €/m3. These scenarios illustrate that it
can be technically feasible and affordable to lower the arsenic criterion
below 5 μg/L in low-dose, high-income countries. However, more
information is needed to apply a cost–benefit model, and comparative
studies from other counties are warranted.
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