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The extensive school closures due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic resulted in prolonged water stagnation within schools' plumbing for longer durations than routine schools' holidays and summer breaks. With many of the U.S. schools suffering from problems of lead (Pb) in potable water for decades, the extended water stagnation caused by schools' closure has raised significant concerns regarding the schools' water safety. Thus, this research was conducted to evaluate the resiliency of schools' potable water plumbing toward the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, the impact of extended water stagnation on heavy metal release into water samples collected from fixtures with and without known lead problems in 25 schools within a school district in Tennessee was investigated. The results revealed a significant increase in the median Pb concentration due to the extended water stagnation. Furthermore, elevated levels of Fe, Zn, and Cu were released from both problematic and nonproblematic fixtures into tap water. Estimation of children's blood lead level (BLL), assuming the consumption of prolonged stagnated water, revealed an increased risk of elevated BLLs (>5 μg dL −1 ). To better identify the potential sources of lead release within schools, a combination of plumbing investigation and sequential water sampling was conducted. The lead-containing fixtures, connecting plumbing, and interior plumbing were found as the possible sources contributing to the lead release into water. Implementation of remediation actions reduced the lead release into tap water to less than 3.4 μg L −1 in the target fixtures.
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Accumulation on and extraction of lead from point-of-use filters for evaluating lead exposure from drinking water
The precise quantification of Pb exposure from tap water can help water utilities and public health organizations assess and mitigate elevated Pb concentrations. Several sampling protocols have been developed for this purpose; however, each existing protocol has limitations associated with sampling time, sample sizes, and ease of application. This study confirmed the ability of point-of-use faucet filters to accumulate Pb and then developed an extraction method that can enable quantification of Pb exposure from tap water. Nearly all Pb from both real and synthetic tap water was accumulated on POU filters, and four different methods for extracting the accumulated Pb were evaluated. Approximately 100% Pb recovery was achieved with a single pass flow-through method using a nitric acid solution. This Pb exposure quantification method could potentially be applied to real drinking water systems to provide an effective indication of Pb exposure from tap water.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1709484
- PAR ID:
- 10225234
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2053-1400
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2734 to 2741
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ew00496k
