Assessing tap-water contributions to inhalation exposure for volatile organic chemicals

Conference · Wed May 03 04:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:6198030

McKone, T. E.; Knezovich, J. P.

For many years the only mechanisms of contaminant uptake considered in the development of drinking-water standards were the consumption of water and ingestion of fish. However, efforts to assess human exposure to contaminated tap water have revealed that significant exposures to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can occur from pathways other than ingestion. Several researchers have investigated the relative importance of a variety of VOC exposure routes in the home from use of contaminated water supplied. In addition there have been studies of the contribution to indoor radon exposure as a result of waterborn radon-222, another highly volatile substance. These studies indicate that exposure to volatile chemicals in tap water by inhalation may be as large or larger than exposure from fluid ingestion. The contaminants available in the indoor air are mobilized by showers, baths, toilets, dishwaters, washing machines, and cooking. In this paper, we summarized the model we use for simulating indoor concentrations of VOCs from household water use. We then describe a series of experiments we are using to verify this model for several VOCs. These experiments are full-scale studies of contaminant transport in an actual house (not a laboratory mock-up) that has been replumbed and instrumented for these studies. 14 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6198030
• Report Number(s): UCRL-100878; CONF-890692-10; ON: DE89012369
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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