Lead contamination in tap water of households with children in Lower Saxony, Germany

Lead has numerous acute and chronic adverse effects on human beings. This i s especially true for infants and children. The main path of lead ingestion in children can be different according to housing and living situation. Th e intake of lead through drinking water is commonly due to metal corrosion. The users plumbing can be an important factor. In recent years, many lead pipes in Germany have been replaced by pipes made of an alternative materia l. The aim of this study is to assess the present state of drinking water c ontamination and the resulting exposure of infants to lead. For this purpos e mothers of new-born babies were offered a free examination of their drink ing water. After a written declaration of consent had been obtained and aft er the infant in question had reached an age of 3 months, a stagnation samp le of cold tap-water after overnight stagnation together with a random dayt ime sample was obtained from the family. The collected samples were analyse d by atomic absorption spectrometry for their lead concentration. In total, 1485 samples from households were collected. Of the 1434 stagnation sample s, 3.1% had lead concentrations greater than 0.01 mg/l (recommended limit o f the WHO) and 0.6% had concentrations above the limit of the German drinki ng water regulation (0.04 mg/l). The values for the 1474 random daytime sam ples were 2.1% above 0.01 mg/l and 0.2% greater than 0.04 mg/l, respectivel y. By region, the areas Bovenden, Friedland, Duderstadt, Northeim and Rosdo rf were particularly affected. The highest measured concentrations of lead in the stagnation samples were 0.11 mg/l and 0.15 mg/l in the random daytim e samples, respectively. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .