RESULTS OF A SURVEY ON ASBESTOS FIBER CONTAMINATION OF DRINKING-WATERIN TUSCANY, ITALY

The extent of asbestos contamination in drinking water and its relatio nship with water aggressiveness in the distribution network in Tuscany was investigated. Fifty-nine samples of drinking water were collected and analysed for asbestos content by scanning electron microscopy (SE M) and X-ray dispersive microprobe. Every sample was also analysed to determine water aggressiveness. Asbestos fibres were detected in 24% o f samples, at concentrations which were always lower than 0.04 million fibres/L. In 79% of these samples, asbestos fibres could have been re leased into the water from asbestos-cement pipes; in the remaining 21% they may have originated from asbestos-containing aquifers. 43% of th e waters were non-aggressive, 54% moderately aggressive and 3% highly aggressive. Samples of aggressive water taken from asbestos-cement pip es were too few to determine any significant correlation between aggre ssiveness of drinking water and release of asbestos fibres from asbest os-cement pipes.