Eliminating lead exposure from drinking water—A global call to action

Bauza, Valerie; Furey, Sean; Bartram, Jamie; Danert, Kerstin; France, Jennifer De; Diarra, Samuel; Fisher, Michael B.; Hansen, Dain; Hutchings, Paul; Lindsay, C. Michael; Mulhern, Riley; Ray, Norman,; Claude, Ramseier,; Strandberg, Johan; Studer, Pierre; Salzberg, Aaron

doi:10.1371/journal.pwat.0000122

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…Given the lack of regulation regarding water testing in higher education settings, other post-secondary institutions may have comparable challenges to address. Lead contamination is a preventable issue, provided that effective regulatory measures are in place [9]. Ultimately, lead testing will protect the health of millions of students and likely hundreds of thousands of staff and faculty who live and work at higher education institutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(8) UNC Emergency Management and Planning facilitated cross-campus meetings for all involved entities, coordinated data collection, and published internal status update reports. (9) The UNC Policy Group approved strategic objectives brought up by the Operations Group. (10) UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health provided a scientific advisor, communications advisors, and student volunteers.…”

Section: Mobilization Of Campus Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other than the global phase-out of leaded gasoline, lead regulations vary greatly worldwide [8]. Consumption of lead-contaminated water is one of the primary sources 2 of 15 of lead exposure [9]. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a guideline value for lead to be no greater than 10 parts per billion (ppb) in drinking water, a threshold many countries have implemented as their benchmark lead level [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying and Responding to Lead in Drinking Water in a University Setting

Bousquet,

Eaves,

Haley

et al. 2024

IJERPH

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Lead is an established neurotoxicant, and it has known associations with adverse neurodevelopmental and reproductive outcomes. Exposure to lead at any level is unsafe, and the United States (US) has enacted various federal and state legislations to regulate lead levels in drinking water in K-12 schools and childcare facilities; however, no regulations exist for higher education settings. Upon the discovery of lead in drinking water fixtures in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) campus, a cross-campus water testing network and sampling plan was developed and deployed. The campaign was based on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 3Ts (Training, Testing, and Taking Action) guidance. The seven-month campaign involved 5954 tests on 3825 drinking water fixtures across 265 buildings. A total of 502 (8.43%) tests showed lead above the limit of detection (1 part per billion, ppb), which represented 422 (11.03%) fixtures. Fewer than 1.5% of the tests were above the EPA action level for public water systems (15 ppb). In conclusion, systematic testing of all the fixtures across campus was required to identify localized contamination, and each entity in the cross-campus network undertook necessary roles to generate a successful testing campaign. UNC-CH established preventative measures to test drinking water fixtures every three years, which provide a framework for other higher education institutions in responding to lead contamination.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mobilization Of Campus Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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