Article

Elevated Blood Lead in Young Children Due to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water: Washington, DC, 2001−2004

418 Durham Hall, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, 43 (5), pp 1618–1623
DOI: 10.1021/es802789w
Publication Date (Web): January 27, 2009
Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society
* Corresponding author phone: (540) 231-7236; fax: (540) 231-7916; e-mail: edwardsm@vt.edu., †

Now affiliated with Department of General and Community Pediatrics, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC; dbbest@cnmc.org; 202-476-4550; fax 202-476-3386.

Synopsis

Exposure to lead contaminated drinking water in Washington, DC from 2001 to 2003 markedly increased the incidence of elevated blood lead for very young children.

Abstract

Incidence of EBL (blood lead ≥10 μg/dL) for children aged ≤1.3 years in Washington, DC increased more than 4 times comparing 2001−2003 when lead in water was high versus 2000 when lead in water was low. The incidence of EBL was highly correlated (R2 = 0.81) to 90th percentile lead in water lead levels (WLLs) from 2000 to 2007 for children aged ≤1.3 years. The risk of exposure to high water lead levels varied markedly in different neighborhoods of the city. For children aged ≤30 months there were not strong correlations between WLLs and EBL, when analyzed for the city as a whole. However, the incidence of EBL increased 2.4 times in high-risk neighborhoods, increased 1.12 times in moderate-risk neighborhoods, and decreased in low-risk neighborhoods comparing 2003 to 2000. The incidence of EBL for children aged ≤30 months also deviated from national trends in a manner that was highly correlated with 90th percentile lead in water levels from 2000 to 2007 (R2 = 0.83) in the high-risk neighborhoods. These effects are consistent with predictions based on biokinetic models and prior research.

Seven supporting analyses and three reports (EPA, 2004). This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

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Article Views: 4,839 Times
Received 2 October 2008
Date accepted 16 January 2009
Published online 27 January 2009
Published in print 1 March 2009
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