From Pipes to Chemicals: The Impact of Modern Water Systems on Human Health and the Environment

From Pipes to Chemicals: The Impact of Modern Water Systems on Human Health and the Environment

Water (H2O) is one of the most abundant molecules that covers Earth’s surface. It is an essential molecule in many organisms including humans. It is used for maintaining homeostasis, cellular processes, and metabolic functions. Without giving it much thought, we have used water in almost every aspect of our lives from cooking to cleaning, eating, drinking, and healthcare. To put in perspective of how much water we use, the Monroe Water Treatment Plant pumps out on average, 15-23 gallons a day (City of Bloomington Utilities, 2020). In water sources such as lakes, there are elements that are present, and some of these elements are carbon, organic compounds, radium, chlorine, fluoride, lead, and other trace elements. Some of these molecules do not cause harm, but there are some that pose a threat to human health if exposed to in small amounts.

One important element that can harm humans is lead (Pb). Lead is one element that the body stores, and with time, this amount can accumulate and cause harmful effects such as abdominal pain, constipation, damage to the brain and the kidneys (CDC, 2018). The effects of lead exposure in adults are mild compared to children. Lead exposure in young children and pregnant individuals have increasingly harmful effects. Lead can cross the placental barrier where it can harm the fetus’s nervous system development. Lead exposure in the womb can cause neurological effects, intellectual disability, and other health consequences. A study has shown that prenatal lead exposure correlated to elevated blood pressure in children. The children who were exposed to lead in the womb had a significant increase in their systolic blood pressure by 0.58 mmHg (Farzan et al., 2018). This increase in blood pressure at a young age can impact the children’s future health.

Lead exposure was a major issue in the past few years for the city of Flint, Michigan. Flint Water Crisis happened when the city changed their main water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. When the water source switched, the different water composition and water treatments caused lead to leach into the water. Lead contaminated water affected the entire city, but it negatively impacted the children. In a recent study, blood lead levels (BLL) in children increase between the ranges of 0.347 and 0.639 µg/dL, which is 2 to 3 times higher than the normal expected levels (Zahran, McElmurry & Sadler, 2017). Lead exposure also affects pregnant individuals. A study has shown that the general fertility rate (GFR) in Flint decreased to 7.5 live births per 1,000 women, and there were newborns with low birth weights (Grossman & Slusky, 2019). The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has shown to negatively affect human health, and questions Bloomington, IN’s water quality and safety.

Methodology

To answer the question of whether Bloomington’s water quality is safe, I had to look at Lake Monroe. The city’s water source comes from Lake Monroe which was built in 1964. The lake water is treated by the Monroe Water Treatment Plant (MWTP) which is located near the lake. Quantitative tests were done once a month at Lake Monroe. Water samples were taken once a month from the lake, and data was collected using Varify Water Test Kit. The test kit measures lead, fluoride, mercury, total chlorine, total alkalinity, hardness, zinc, free chlorine, iron, copper, nitrite, nitrate, pH, sulfate, aluminum, manganese, and bacteria. The bacteria test was used once on the first water test. The water was tested for E. coli, Hepatitis A, and S. enterica (salmonella). A TDS-EC meter was used to measure the total dissolved solids found in the water. A tap water sample was collected to use as data comparison. Since the quantitative tests were limited, qualitative measures such as literature search was conducted.

Figure 1. Lake Monroe Water Quality Tests and Materials. Left image shows the Varify test kit, a TDS-EC meter, a water sample from Lake Monroe, and a pH test strip. Right image shows the results from the Varify Water Test Kit.

Data Results & Discussion

The data collected was used and compared with the data the city released in the “2020 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report” (City of Bloomington Utilities, 2020).

Table 1.

Water quality sampled from Lake Monroe and Tap

Note: n/a for copper means that the results for copper did not fall into any range that is marked on the test strip. Some data values are given in a range since the color measured did not match to the marked value on the strip.
Table 2.

Data Table from “2020 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report”

Note: “2019 Table of Detected Contaminants” is a photo courtesy from the City of Bloomington Utilities.

Recent research has shown that Lake Monroe has a trophic state index (TSI) of 55, this suggests that Lake Monroe is eutrophic, or the lake has an excess of nutrients that promote bacterial and aquatic plant growth (Laney & Coleman, 2018). The nitrite levels of 1 ppm measured in November and December suggests that the water from Lake Monroe is susceptible for algal bloom or bacterial growth. The increase in algal bloom can cause water treatment and the usage of monochloramines and copper sulfate to increase, which are used to kill algae and bacteria. Nitrite and nitrate in Lake Monroe can also come from human interactions. Agricultural land and production use fertilizers causing runoffs to potentially enter the water and the nearby soil (National Research Council, 1995). Comparing the results tested to the values on the report, the lead data values of 0-5 ppb are close to the reported value of 4.9 ppb. Lead was not detected in tap water, and comparing this to Lake Monroe, it suggests that the water treatment methods used is efficient in eliminating traces of lead from the water. From interviewing with the city’s Water Quality Coordinator, the value of 4.9 ppb was the result of collecting 30 water samples within the year, and these samples were not limited to Lake Monroe alone (Water Quality Team, personal communication). Although the value is the result from a dataset, it provides a reasonable point of comparison.

After comparing the results collected to a known value, qualitative information was gathered. The question of whether the pipes in Bloomington were still made of lead, a map of the city’s water pipelines, and an interview with the city’s Plan Review team was collected.

Figure 2. The map of Bloomington, IN’s water pipelines.

The City Review Team answered that the pipes in the city were made of Ductile Iron Pipes (DIP) and Cast Iron (CI). There were some lead pipes left, and the city has a list of the locations where lead contamination/exposure are at a high risk. Besides DIP and CI, PVC pipes are used to replace a few of the water main pipes (Plan Review Team, personal communication, City of Bloomington Utilities, 2017). Since lead pipes are not commonly used in the water system and the results of 0 ppb measured in the tap water sample, it is safe to assume that the probability of lead contaminating drinking water is small. The possibility of lead entering the water system is limited, the reported lead value of 4.9 ppb could come from different sources. Lead contamination is not limited to the corrosion of lead pipes, but it can come from lead paints, contaminated soil, lead contaminated oil, toys, and from working with lead materials. Homes in the United States during the 1900-1980 used lead-based paints and lead pipes/fixtures were common (Brown & Margolis, 2012). The 30 locations where the water samples were collected were not stated, but the lead measured could have come from multiple sources near the testing sites.

The water treatment methods explain the difference from the measured lead contaminant of ~ 5ppb from Lake Monroe and the 0 ppb from tap water. The Monroe Water Treatment Plant uses coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration to treat the water. The water treatment steps with what chemicals are added (Water Quality Team, personal communication):

1. Sodium permanganate: oxidizes dissolved iron and manganese, removes some color, helps to control biological growth, reduces odor, and improves taste.
2. Powdered activated carbon (PAC): removes taste and odors.
3. Copper sulfate: keeps algae from growing in the water basins
4. Aluminum sulfate & a cationic polymer: part of the coagulation process and this takes place in the flocculation basins.
5. Sodium hypochlorite: primary disinfectant, Giardia inactivation.
6. Ammonia: ammonia and sodium hypochlorite forms monochloramine which acts as a second disinfectant. This takes place in the sedimentation basins.
7. Fluorine: improves dental health and strengthens teeth.
8. Sodium hydroxide: raises pH before the water is released into the distribution system.

Table 3. Sanitary Sewer Overflow into the Environment 

Note: Dataset is a courtesy of the City of Bloomington Utilities. The data set spans from 1996-2020, only data from 2020 is used and shown.

These are the added chemicals that are used during the water treatment process. Research is still in the process to determine the safeness of these chemicals to human health and environment. A recent research investigated the effects of PAC wastewater from water treatment plants on the ecosystem of the river. The study showed how PAC absorbs calcium ions and reduces nutrients that are available for some species downstream of the river (Englert, Zubrod, Schulz & Bundschuh, 2013). While the effects are harmful to the environment, more research on wastewater overflow needs to be conducted. From the beginning of the year, more than 649,000 gallons of sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) were released into the environment (City of Bloomington Utilities). SSOs are untreated sewage waters that are released into the environment. The sewage waters contain contaminants of different chemicals and microorganisms that could negatively impact the ecosystem and the potentially impact human health. Research has shown that there is a correlation of SSOs to acute gastrointestinal cases (Uejio, Yale, Malecki, Borchardt, Anderson & Patz, 2014). The research suggests that the overflows can cause the release of bacteria and viruses that can enter groundwater and can potentially harm humans. The process involved in water treatment may prevent contaminants from leaking into drinking water, but the process can have harmful effects to human health and to the environment. Chemicals used in the process can leak as wastewater and affect aquatic ecosystems. Wastewater can also affect humans since there are chemicals and foreign particles that can enter the human body.

Conclusion

There were limitations in this research. The data collected at Lake Monroe has a small sample size, the location of the sample was limited to one area, and the samples were collected at different times of the day. Water samples at waste treatment plants were not taken. Data was collected using test strips which were 16 tests on one strip. The color and indicators on the test pads bled into one another which would have skewed readings. The test strips were limited since they depended on matching color to concentration values rather than giving an exact value. With Covid-19, it was difficult to visit treatment sites. Time was a limit to how much data can be collected, if given more time, more data could be collected.

For future water quality research, water samples from different parts of Lake Monroe should be collected for a longer period. Water samples from the treatment plants in Bucher Poole and Bean Blossom can give more data to compare the water system of Bloomington. Equipment to test the water quality can be improved to test for certain parameters, and this would provide a more accurate result and the condition of the lake. Water samples would be collected around the same time during the day and twice a week. Given that these are future improvements to the water quality studies, there could be more research conducted in the study of pipe corrosion, the effects of sanitary sewer overflows on the ecosystem, and the chemicals used in the water treatment process.

The water quality research raised more questions that could be studied in the future. Since Bloomington’s water pipelines are mainly made from cast iron and ductile iron, more research should be conducted on the effects of iron pipe corrosion and usage on the environment and to human health. Like lead corrosion, iron corrosion and the leakage of iron in the water supply can cause health problems. Iron contamination can cause gastrointestinal problems such gastrointestinal bleeding (Jaishankar, Tseten, Anbalagan, Mathew & Beeregowda, 2014). The health effects of lead pipe corrosion are known, but research still needs to be conducted on iron pipes and PVC pipes. A research conducted a study on PVC pipes and found that PVC pipes can cause volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to leak into the water (Shaikh et al., 2019). In response to lead corrosion, humans start to replace the pipes without researching the effects the change, and this can cause problems in the future. With these changes, they can affect the environment negatively and indirectly affect human health and well-being. Careful considerations and research should be conducted prior to making decisions. Research on the effects of the environment should be conducted too because the ecosystem provides a lot of resources for human needs, and any change can cause the depletion of resources.

References

Brown, M. J., & Margolis, S. (2012, August 10). Lead in drinking water and human blood lead levels in the United States. CDC Stacks: Public Health Publications. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/27409

City of Bloomington Utilities. (2017, January). Construction Specifications For… City of Bloomington Utilities: Wastewater, Water, and Storm Projects. https://bloomington.in.gov/sites/default/files/2017-06/CBU%20Construction%20Specs%202017%20complete.pdf

City of Bloomington Utilities. (n.d.). Sanitary Sewer Overflows – Sanitary Sewer Overflow Master – City of Bloomington Data Portal. Sanitary Sewer. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://data.bloomington.in.gov/dataset/sanitary-sewer-overflows/resource/f5b46fe5-6e09-4fdf-b863-acbd80e752d0?inner_span=True

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