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Abstract
The potential toxicity of lead has been a public health concern for decades. High levels of lead in water systems such as Flint, Newark, and Washington D.C. have renewed public concern about the negative health impacts from drinking contaminated drinking water. Unlike municipal water, private wells are not regulated, nor are they regularly tested for lead and/or other contaminants. The senior capstone class for the Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program at UNC-Chapel Hill analyzed publicly available private well test data from the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health Database (SLPH) and used the Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) model to predict blood lead levels (BLLs) for children ages one to seven years-old living at homes with detectable lead contamination in their private wells. This research project uses well analysis to predict BLLs for children based on North Carolina's minimum reporting level for lead. We conclude that there is a statistically significant difference in predicted BLLs at and below the minimum reporting level, and the SLPH may need to change their reporting protocol to break the cycle of children's environmental health disparities and reduce lead exposure from private well drinking water.
Keywords: Blood lead levels, private drinking water, childhood lead exposure, lead contamination
Introduction
In the United States (US), childhood exposure to lead, a heavy metal and toxicant, has been a national public health concern for decades. Reducing blood lead levels (BLLs) in children has been a Healthy People Objective for 2010 and 2020 (1). As the effects of exposure to lead are further studied, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has continued to lower the childhood BLL at which intervention is recommended. In 1991, the CDC lowered the reference value from 25 μg/dL to 10 μg/dL. In 2012, the CDC set the current standard of five μg/dL (2). This reference value is not health-related and instead is based off the upper tail of childhood BLLs (2, 3).
Due to their behavioral and physiological characteristics, children are especially vulnerable to the detrimental impacts of lead exposure (2, 4). The repercussions of childhood exposure to lead are lifelong. BLLs as low as 1-2 μg/dL can have detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system, reproductive system, and kidney function (4)....