THE EFFECT OF LEAD IN TAP WATER ON BLOOD LEAD IN CHILDREN IN A SMELTER TOWN

Hettstedt, a city in eastern Germany with a long history of mining and smelting of non-ferrous ores, has multiple lead waste deposits and th e remains of a former lead smelter and a copper-silver smelter. As par t of a cross-sectional study, an analysis of lead concentrations in dr inking water and in blood was undertaken to determine the impact of le ad in drinking water on the internal burden of lead in children. The g eometric mean of blood lead levers among children 5-14 years old was 3 5.0 mu g/l with a 95% confidence interval (C.I.) of 33.4-36.7. The geo metric mean of lead in the random tap water samples was 0.5 mu g/l (95 % C.I., 0.5-0.6) and 0.7 mu g/l (95% C.I., 0.6-0.8) in the stagnant ta p water samples. Blood lead levels were somewhat correlated with the r andom water measures but not the stagnant water measures (random sampl e: r = 0.12, P = 0.012; stagnant sample: r = 0.04, P = 0.396). After a djustment for relevant confounders, lead in drinking water (random sam ple) was not significantly associated with blood lead levels. Factors that were significantly associated with blood lead included gender, th e city area of residence, lead in house dust, regular contact with dog s and dirtiness of the child after playing outdoors. Based on this stu dy, lead in domestic tap water contributed little to the lead exposure of children in the lead contaminated region of Hettstedt. (C) 1998 El sevier Science B.V.