Assessment and management of tap water lead contamination in Lower Saxony, Germany

Abstract

Lead is known to have numerous adverse effects especially to infants and children. The intake of lead through drinking water is commonly due to metal corrosion in the peripheral water distribution system, especially the user's plumbing. The aim of this project was to assess the present state of drinking water contamination with lead in Lower Saxony and to promote replacement of lead pipes. For this purpose a project was initiated comprising three parts. First, a free examination of drinking water was offered in cooperation with local public health departments for private households with young women and families with children living in buildings constructed before 1974. Participants were asked to collect a cold tap water sample in their household after nocturnal stagnation and to complete a questionnaire. The collected samples were analysed by atomic absorption spectrometry for their lead concentration. Second, data from local public health departments on results of lead measurements, especially in buildings for the public, were collected and analysed. Finally a working group 'lead replacement' was initiated. In the project in total 2436 tap water samples from households were collected. Of these, 6.49% had lead concentrations exceeding 10 microg/l (recommended limit of the World Health Organization) and 2.79% had concentrations above the limit of the German drinking water ordinance (25 microg/l). There were remarkable regional differences in the frequency of tap water contamination. Multi-family houses were more frequently affected than single- and double-family houses.

Integrated electrical tomography and hydro-chemical analysis for environmental assessment of El-Dair waste disposal site, west of Sohag city, Egypt

“…It is a neurotoxin and is responsible for the most common type of human metal toxicosis (Berman 1980). Also, studies have linked Pb exposures even at low levels with the increase in blood pressure (Zietz et al 2007) as well as with reduced intelligence quotient in children (Needleman 1992) and with attention disorders (Yule and Rutter 1985). Exposure to lead is cumulative over time.…”

“…The possible long-term effects of chronic exposure to lead present in drinking water are subject to considerable public concern (Zietz et al 2007), and in the analysis of the water samples collected, Pb is in levels above the drinking water guidelines of 0.01 mg/l (WHO 2011b) and the Egyptian standard (EGYPT 2007), but below the irrigation limit. The high concentration of cadmium may come from leaching of metal from soil which contains about 5.5 ppm of Pb in the study area (Salman 2013).…”

Evaluation of Drinking Water Quality in Three Municipalities of Romania: The Influence of Municipal and Customer's Distribution Systems Concerning Trace Metals

“…Significant levels of trace metals could be detected after stagnation of the water in distribution system, especially during night -time (Haider et al, 2002;Vasile et al, 2009Vasile et al, , 2011Zietz et al, 2003Zietz et al, , 2007. All these studies reported increased concentration of lead, cadmium, copper, iron and nickel after stagnation in household tap water in Austria, Germany and Romania.…”

Heavy Metal Contamination of Well Water in the Kipushi Mining Town (Democratic Republic of Congo)

“…Exposure to high Pb levels may cause abortion to pregnant women and may damage the organs responsible for sperm production in men. Other studies have linked Pb exposure, even at low concentrations, to an increase of arterial pressure as well as a weak intelligence quotient in children and a disorder in attention [10][11][12]. Also Glover-Kerkvliet [13] reported that exposure high Hg, Au and Pb concentrations is associated with auto-immunity development that drives the immunity system to attack its own cells, mistaking them for invaders.…”