pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Mixed organic and inorganic tapwater exposures and potential effects in greater Chicago area, USA - PubMed

️Wed Jan 01 2020

doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137236. Epub 2020 Feb 11.

Maria Argos², Dana W Kolpin³, Shannon M Meppelink³, Kristin M Romanok⁴, Kelly L Smalling⁴, Michael J Focazio⁵, Joshua M Allen⁶, Julie E Dietze⁷, Michael J Devito⁸, Ariel R Donovan⁷, Nicola Evans⁹, Carrie E Givens¹⁰, James L Gray¹¹, Christopher P Higgins¹², Michelle L Hladik¹³, Luke R Iwanowicz¹⁴, Celeste A Journey¹⁵, Rachael F Lane⁷, Zachary R Laughrey⁷, Keith A Loftin⁷, R Blaine McCleskey¹⁶, Carrie A McDonough¹², Elizabeth Medlock-Kakaley⁹, Michael T Meyer⁷, Andrea R Putz¹⁷, Susan D Richardson⁶, Alan E Stark¹⁷, Christopher P Weis¹⁸, Vickie S Wilson⁹, Abderrahman Zehraoui¹⁹

Affiliations

PMID: 32126404
PMCID: PMC9140060
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137236

Mixed organic and inorganic tapwater exposures and potential effects in greater Chicago area, USA

Paul M Bradley et al. Sci Total Environ. 2020.

Abstract

Safe drinking water at the point of use (tapwater, TW) is a public-health priority. TW exposures and potential human-health concerns of 540 organics and 35 inorganics were assessed in 45 Chicago-area United States (US) homes in 2017. No US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level(s) (MCL) were exceeded in any residential or water treatment plant (WTP) pre-distribution TW sample. Ninety percent (90%) of organic analytes were not detected in treated TW, emphasizing the high quality of the Lake Michigan drinking-water source and the efficacy of the drinking-water treatment and monitoring. Sixteen (16) organics were detected in >25% of TW samples, with about 50 detected at least once. Low-level TW exposures to unregulated disinfection byproducts (DBP) of emerging concern, per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and three pesticides were ubiquitous. Common exceedances of non-enforceable EPA MCL Goal(s) (MCLG) of zero for arsenic [As], lead [Pb], uranium [U], bromodichloromethane, and tribromomethane suggest potential human-health concerns and emphasize the continuing need for improved understanding of cumulative effects of low-concentration mixtures on vulnerable sub-populations. Because DBP dominated TW organics, residential-TW concentrations are potentially predictable with expanded pre-distribution DBP monitoring. However, several TW chemicals, notably Pb and several infrequently detected organic compounds, were not readily explained by pre-distribution samples, illustrating the need for continued broad inorganic/organic TW characterization to support consumer assessment of acceptable risk and point-of-use treatment options.

Keywords: Chicago USA; Contaminant mixtures; DBP; Disinfection byproducts; Exposure; Human health; Inorganics; Organics; Point-of-use drinking water; Tapwater; Urban.

Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

**Figure 1.**
Cumulative (sum of all detected) concentrations (μg L⁻¹) and numbers of organic compounds (left plot) and concentrations (μg L⁻¹) of Pb (right plot) detected in samples of treated home tapwater, treated water-treatment-plant (WTP) pre-distribution tapwater, and untreated Lake Michigan intake water in Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana during 2017. WTP were sampled twice each; only July (CN/CS) and September (EC) results shown. All sample locations are anonymized. Intake samples are displayed offshore in Lake Michigan.

**Figure 2.**
Concentrations (μg L⁻¹) of As (top plot), Pb (middle plot), and U (bottom plot) in samples of treated home tapwater (cyan circles, ), treated, predistribution tapwater (white circles, ) from all water treatment plants (WTP), and untreated Lake Michigan intake water (purple circles, ) collected during 2017 from Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana. Circles are data for individual samples. Shaded areas indicate respective WTP samples. Boxes, centerlines, and whiskers indicate interquartile range, median, and 5th and 95th percentiles, respectively. In each plot, the probability that centroids and dispersion of groups with different letters are the same is estimated to be less than 0.05 (One-way PERMANOVA; 9999 permutations; p < 0.05; WTP not included). Red upper X-axis for each plot are set at the respective National Primary Drinking Water Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL: 10 μg L⁻¹ As; 30 μg L⁻¹ U) or Technology Treatment Action Level (AL: 15 μg L⁻¹ Pb) values; MCL Goal(s) (MCLG) for As, Pb, and U are zero. Dashed lines indicate the method reporting limit (0.02 μg L⁻¹ for Pb not shown).

formula image — **Figure 2.**
Concentrations (μg L⁻¹) of As (top plot), Pb (middle plot), and U (bottom plot) in samples of treated home tapwater (cyan circles, ), treated, predistribution tapwater (white circles, ) from all water treatment plants (WTP), and untreated Lake Michigan intake water (purple circles, ) collected during 2017 from Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana. Circles are data for individual samples. Shaded areas indicate respective WTP samples. Boxes, centerlines, and whiskers indicate interquartile range, median, and 5th and 95th percentiles, respectively. In each plot, the probability that centroids and dispersion of groups with different letters are the same is estimated to be less than 0.05 (One-way PERMANOVA; 9999 permutations; p < 0.05; WTP not included). Red upper X-axis for each plot are set at the respective National Primary Drinking Water Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL: 10 μg L⁻¹ As; 30 μg L⁻¹ U) or Technology Treatment Action Level (AL: 15 μg L⁻¹ Pb) values; MCL Goal(s) (MCLG) for As, Pb, and U are zero. Dashed lines indicate the method reporting limit (0.02 μg L⁻¹ for Pb not shown).

**Figure 3.**
**Top:** Total numbers (red circles, ) and cumulative concentrations (μg L⁻¹; bars) of organic analytes detected in home tapwater, treated water-filtration-plant pre-distribution tapwater, and untreated Lake Michigan intake water in Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana during 2017. **Bottom:** Concentrations (μg L⁻¹) of individual organics detected in samples of treated home tapwater (cyan circles, ), treated, predistribution tapwater (white circles, ) from all water treatment plants (WTP), and untreated Lake Michigan intake water (purple circles, ). Boxes, centerlines, and whiskers indicate interquartile range, median, and 5^th and 95^th percentiles, respectively. Vertical dashed lines separate individual filtration plant service areas. WTP (Chicago (North), Chicago (South), and East Chicago (2 plants)) were sampled twice each; only July (CN/CS) and September (EC) results shown.

**Figure 4.**
Detected concentrations (circles, μg L⁻¹) and number of sites (right axes) for 54 organic analytes (left axis, in order of decreasing total detections) detected in samples of Lake Michigan intake water (left plot, 7 total samples) and of home and water-filtration-plant pre-distribution tapwater (right plot, 53 total samples) during 2017 from Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana. Circles are data for individual samples. Boxes, centerlines, and whiskers indicate interquartile range, median, and 5th and 95th percentiles, respectively.

**Figure 5.**
Cumulative numbers (A and C) and concentrations (B and D) of organic analytes detected in samples of treated home tapwater (cyan circles), treated, predistribution tapwater (white circles) from all water filtration plants (WFP), and untreated Lake Michigan intake water (purple circles) collected during 2017 from Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana, with (A and B) and without (C and D) disinfection byproducts. Boxes, centerlines, and whiskers indicate interquartile range, median, and 5th and 95th percentiles, respectively. In each plot, the probability that centroids and dispersion of groups with different letters (WFP not included) are the same is estimated to be less than 0.05 (One-way PERMANOVA; 9999 permutations; p < 0.05).

**Figure 6.**
Individual EAR values (circles) and cumulative EAR (Σ_EAR, sum of all detected; red triangles, ) across all assays for 23 organic analytes listed in ToxCast and detected in samples of treated home tapwater (cyan circles, ), treated, predistribution tapwater (white circles, ) from all water treatment plants (WTP), or untreated Lake Michigan intake water (purple circles, ) in Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana during 2017. Boxes, centerlines, and whiskers indicate interquartile range, median, and 5^th and 95^th percentiles, respectively. Vertical dashed lines separate individual filtration plant service areas. WTP (Chicago (North), Chicago (South), and East Chicago (2 plants)) were sampled twice; only the maximum EAR results are shown for each. Solid and dashed red lines indicate concentrations shown to modulate effects *in vitro* and effects-screening-level threshold, respectively.

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