Predicting Children’s Blood Lead Levels From Exposure to School Drinking Water in Seattle, Washington, USA

Sathyanarayana, Sheela; Beaudet, Nancy; Omri, Katie; Karr, Catherine

doi:10.1016/j.ambp.2006.07.001

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Volume 6, Issue 5 , Pages 288-292, 1 September 2006

Predicting Children’s Blood Lead Levels From Exposure to School Drinking Water in Seattle, Washington, USA

Sheela Sathyanarayana, MD
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- Address correspondence to Sheela Sathyanarayana, University of Washington, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, Division of General Pediatrics, Child Health Institute, Building 296200, NE 74th St, Seattle, WA 98115-8160
Nancy Beaudet, MS
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Katie Omri, MA
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Catherine Karr, MD, PhD
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Received 26 January 2006; accepted 5 July 2006.

Objective

Lead exposure through drinking water is of increasing interest with little known about its potential childhood health impact. In 2004, school testing in Seattle, Washington, found lead concentrations in drinking water that exceeded national guidelines (>20 ppb). On the basis of these data, we estimated potential blood lead levels (BLLs) in elementary school children to better understand the potential health risks posed by these exposures.

Methods

We used the US Environmental Protection Agency Integrated Uptake Biokinetic Model for Lead in Children to predict geometric mean BLLs. We modeled typical-case and worst-case scenarios for children in 71 elementary schools on the basis of drinking water lead concentrations results from 2004.

Results

The estimated geometric mean BLLs under a typical scenario for each school ranged from 1.6 to 2.5 μg/dL. The worst-case scenario predicted geometric mean BLLs ranging from 1.7 to 5.0 μg/dL. All modeling yielded predicted BLLs well below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public health goal of <10 μg/dL.

Conclusions

Our modeling suggests drinking water exposures up to 10–15 times the Environmental Protection Agency guideline are unlikely to result in BLLs exceeding the current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the absence of other significant exposure sources. In Seattle, elevated school drinking water lead concentrations are not a significant source of lead exposure in school-age children. Further characterization of drinking water impacts are merited only if younger-age children are consuming water or if water lead concentrations are higher than those in this study.

Key words: children , lead exposure , lead poisoning , school drinking water