Abstract
Safe drinking water is celebrated as a public health achievement and is a top priority for the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet today, lead (Pb) contaminated drinking water has the potential to be a public health crisis in the United States. Despite efforts to provide safe drinking water, update water infrastructure, and ensure strict drinking water regulations, there are incidents of unsafe lead levels and reports of associated adverse health effects. While there has been increased attention paid to the quality of drinking water within individuals’ homes, little research has examined the presence and concentration of lead in water from drinking fountain sources located in public parks. In this study, we sampled drinking water from every accessible public park in the Bryan/College Station (BCS), TX metropolitan area (N = 56). With a lower detection level of 2.0 μg/L, we discovered a mean lead concentration of 1.3 μg/L across all sites and a maximum of 8.0 μg/L. Furthermore, neighborhoods below the median income for BCS were twice as likely to have detectable lead levels in their water and had 1.5 times the mean concentration. This study underscores the need for action and supports previous studies that have identified a disparate burden to lead exposure among low socioeconomic populations within the United States. By examining the water quality in drinking fountains in publicly accessible parks, the results of our study provide public health professionals with important information about where infrastructure should be improved and the potential harms of lead in drinking fountain water.
Highlights
Contamination of drinking water by lead is a growing concern within the UnitedStates as the breadth of exposure has become clearer over the last decade
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule including a suite of actionsto to reduce identifying thethe most impacted communities reducelead leadexposures
Lead contaminated drinking water even at low levels is harmful to human health
Summary
Contamination of drinking water by lead is a growing concern within the UnitedStates as the breadth of exposure has become clearer over the last decade. Contamination of drinking water by lead is a growing concern within the United. The causal link between lead exposure and severe cognitive health effects has been well established as have other outcomes such as memory loss, abdominal pain, kidney damage, high blood pressure, and weakness [4,5]. There are no known safe levels of exposure in the environment [6,7]. The maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG), set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is zero, as even trace amounts and low exposure levels are dangerous [8]. In spite of the health consequences of exposure, the EPA has established an action level for lead in drinking water of 15 μg/L
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