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The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) recently proposed that the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic be revised from 50 to 10 μg/L. This change will have significant economic consequences for water systems. Will the benefits of the revised MCL justify the expense? According to Frost et al, the revised arsenic MCL will result in high costs for uncertain benefits. To support their theory, they examined the cancer health risk studies that were used to support the proposed revision and evaluated the quality of this evidence as well as its cost‐effectiveness. They maintain that the science supporting the proposed new arsenic MCL is fraught with uncertainties. For instance, the arsenic MCL revision is partly based on an extrapolation of arsenic‐related cancer risks from studies in Taiwan to US populations. However, the authors discovered that no US epidemiological studies have found adverse health effects in people who consumed US water supplies that contained arsenic. The authors used estimates of the cost of compliance developed by USEPA and the AWWA Research Foundation and USEPA's estimated reductions in arsenic‐related cancer mortality to calculate the marginal cost per year‐of‐life gained for different MCL options. These costs were then compared with acceptable costs for other public health and medical treatment interventions. Even assuming USEPA's projected benefits and costs, Frost et al maintain that the cost per year of life gained from the proposed regulation is much higher than acceptable costs per year of life gained from medical interventions or other public health programs. With their findings in mind, the authors hope that the drinking water industry will take a more aggressive approach to evaluating the health effects science for new proposed regulations and that their article will initiate a discussion of acceptable costs per unit of benefit for future regulations. Frost and colleagues also hope that the industry, led by AWWA and/or other organizations, will confront USEPA to reform the process used to justify new regulations.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) recently proposed that the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic be revised from 50 to 10 μg/L. This change will have significant economic consequences for water systems. Will the benefits of the revised MCL justify the expense? According to Frost et al, the revised arsenic MCL will result in high costs for uncertain benefits. To support their theory, they examined the cancer health risk studies that were used to support the proposed revision and evaluated the quality of this evidence as well as its cost‐effectiveness. They maintain that the science supporting the proposed new arsenic MCL is fraught with uncertainties. For instance, the arsenic MCL revision is partly based on an extrapolation of arsenic‐related cancer risks from studies in Taiwan to US populations. However, the authors discovered that no US epidemiological studies have found adverse health effects in people who consumed US water supplies that contained arsenic. The authors used estimates of the cost of compliance developed by USEPA and the AWWA Research Foundation and USEPA's estimated reductions in arsenic‐related cancer mortality to calculate the marginal cost per year‐of‐life gained for different MCL options. These costs were then compared with acceptable costs for other public health and medical treatment interventions. Even assuming USEPA's projected benefits and costs, Frost et al maintain that the cost per year of life gained from the proposed regulation is much higher than acceptable costs per year of life gained from medical interventions or other public health programs. With their findings in mind, the authors hope that the drinking water industry will take a more aggressive approach to evaluating the health effects science for new proposed regulations and that their article will initiate a discussion of acceptable costs per unit of benefit for future regulations. Frost and colleagues also hope that the industry, led by AWWA and/or other organizations, will confront USEPA to reform the process used to justify new regulations.
A point-of-use ͑POU͒ system was designed and constructed using commercially available activated alumina to remove arsenic from drinking water. Testing with City of Albuquerque chlorinated tap water containing an average of 23 ug/L arsenic found that 1 L of adsorbent would provide water for direct consumption by a family of four for 435 days. It was estimated that the POU system constructed for this study could be sold for $162, and the arsenic adsorption columns were estimated to cost $4. A monthly cost to the customer of $10/month was estimated to purchase, install, and operate this POU system, assuming annual replacement of adsorption media cartridges. The implications of relying upon POU systems to comply with a new drinking water standard for arsenic are discussed.
We estimated the number of transportation deaths that would be associated with water treatment in Albuquerque to meet the EPA's recently proposed revisions of the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for arsenic. Vehicle mileage was estimated for ion exchange, activated alumina, and iron coagulation/microfiltration water treatment processes to meet an MCL of 0.020 mg/L, 0.010 mg/L, 0.005 mg/L, and 0.003 mg/L. Local crash, injury, and death rates per million vehicle miles were used to estimate the number of injuries and deaths. Depending on the water treatment options chosen, we estimate that meeting an arsenic MCL of 0.005 mg/L will result in 143 to 237 crashes, 58 to 98 injuries, and 0.6 to 2.6 deaths in Albuquerque over a 70-year period, resulting in 26 to 113 years of life lost. The anticipated health benefits for Albuquerque residents from a 0.005 mg/L arsenic MCL, estimated using either a multistage Weibull or Poisson model, ranged from 3 to 80 arsenic-related bladder and lung cancer deaths prevented over a 70-year period, adding between 43 and 1,123 years of life. Whether a revised arsenic MCL increases or reduces overall loss of life in Albuquerque depends on the accuracy of EPA's cancer risk assessment. If the multistage Weibull model accurately estimates the benefits, the years of life added is comparable or lower than the anticipated years lost due to transportation associated with the delivery of chemicals, disposal of treatment waste, and operation of the water treatment system. Coagulation/microfiltration treatment will result in substantially fewer transportation deaths than either ion exchange or activated alumina.
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