ethical views...Hmmm???

[CrazyHorse81]

Situation:
Current MCL Arsenic = 50 ppb
As of 01/23/2006 MCL Arsenic = 10 ppb
Individual well drilling

This is not regulated by the EPA when the water is an individual system, well with pump for example. Is it ethical to serve the individuals if the As level of their well is above 10 ppb? Do you recommend treating the water -leaving the operation and maintencance of the POU up to the home owner? Should the 10 ppb MCL be treated as regulated per individual even though it isn't? This has been discussed around the work place and thought that it is very interesting and wanted to know what you think.

 

[cvg]

I assume POU is point of use? Then the system is owned by the homeowner, maintenance is by the homeowner. how can you regulate what an individual does in the privacy of his own home? If they want to drink arsenic or serve it to their guests, it's their right to do so.

 

[GarySCWSVI]

It is common for individual well owners to treat their water to meet the standards imposed on public water supplies. This especially when it involves health related contaminants. It is also common for local health authorities to require individual well owners to properly treat their water, again, when it involves health related contaminants. It is also common for money lenders to require proper treatment of well water when a home is bought or sold.

That being said, it is my opinion that, the answer to your question is yes it should be treated. If for no other reason than if public water supplies must be treated to protect public health so should individual well water be treated.

For those who do treat it is only logical that they be offered a service contract for the seller to provide the necessary maintenance of the system. Home owners are not known to be good caretakers of water treatment systems.

You said "POU". POE (Point Of Entry) would also be good to do. Some home owners are insisting on POE over POU treatment.

Gary Schreiber, CWS VI
The Purolite Co.

 

[IFRs]

If you know a hazard exists, you are duty bound to at least inform all others who might be affected. No question about that. Ask any priest, minister, rabbi, monk or mother. Treating it is another issue altogether.

 

[francesca]

The EPA has a simple procedure for calculating the risk of cancer associated with As -- in fact we did it last night in my Env Assessments class and it took a few minutes. The EPA regulates water standards to correspond somewhere between 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 1,000,000.

The water concentration, as we calculated last night, for a 1 in 1,000,000 risk of cancer due to As, is 56.8ppt (56.8 ng/L).

The cancer risk associated with the drinking water standard (10 ppb) is, again as calculated in class last night, 1 in 20,000.

I strongly recommend that you perform the risk calculation for your water concentration; perhaps it will help you with your ethical question.