The revision of the national standards for drinking water quality is an important, rigorous and delicate endeavor. The paper introduced the revision of this standard, emphasizing the revision principle, overall technical considerations, and revision contents. Recommendations were also proposed for the implementation of this standard.
Humans ; Drinking Water ; Water Quality ; Reference Standards ; China ; Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis* ; Water Supply

The establishment of limit values for standards of drinking water quality is an important and complex process. This study systematically introduced the methodology of the establishment of standard limit values for drinking water quality and elaborated on the workflow of setting limit values of water quality indicators, principles and methods of selecting water quality indicators, derivation of safety reference values, and establishment of limit values. It also aimed to provide reference and support for the future revision of relevant standards.
Humans ; Water Supply ; Drinking Water ; Reference Standards ; Water Quality ; Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis*

The trace toxic metal copper was assayed using mercury immobilized on a carbon nanotube electrode (MCW), with a graphite counter and a reference electrode. In this study, a macro-scale convection motor was interfaced with a MCW three-electrode system, in which a handmade MCW was optimized using cyclic-and square-wave stripping voltammetry. An analytical electrolyte for tap water was used instead of an expensive acid or base ionic solution. Under these conditions, optimum parameters were 0.09 V amplitude, 40 Hz frequency, 0.01 V incremental potential, and a 60-s accumulation time. A diagnostic working curve was obtained from 50.0 to 350 microg/L. At a constant Cu(II) concentration of 10.0 microg/L, the statistical relative standard deviation was 1.78% (RSD, n = 15), the analytical accumulation time was only 60 s, and the analytical detection limit approached 4.6 microg/L (signal/noise = 3). The results were applied to non-treated drinking water. The content of the analyzed copper using 9.0 and 4.0 microg/L standards were 8.68 microg/L and 3.96 microg/L; statistical values R2 = 0.9987 and R2 = 0.9534, respectively. This method is applicable to biological diagnostics or food surveys.
Convection ; Copper ; Diagnosis ; Drinking Water* ; Drinking* ; Electrodes ; Graphite ; Limit of Detection ; Metals* ; Nanotubes, Carbon ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Reference Standards ; Drinking Water

Consumer Product Safety ; Drinking Water ; standards ; Equipment Safety ; Food Safety ; Public Health ; instrumentation ; methods ; Safety Management ; Water Supply

Risk assessment considers the situations and characteristics of the exposure environment and host. Various physiological variables of the human body reflects the characteristics of the population that can directly influence risk exposure. Therefore, identification of exposure factors based on the Korean population is required for appropriate risk assessment. It is expected that a handbook about general exposure factors will be used by professionals in many fields as well as the risk assessors of the health department. The process of developing the exposure factors handbook for the Korean population will be introduced in this article, with a specific focus on the general exposure factors including life expectancy, body weight, surface area, inhalation rates, amount of water intake, and soil ingestion targeting the Korean population. The researchers used national databases including the Life Table and the 2005 Time Use Survey from the National Statistical Office. The anthropometric study of size in Korea used the resources provided by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards. In addition, direct measurement and questionnaire surveys of representative samples were performed to calculate the inhalation rate, drinking water intake, and soil ingestion.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Body Surface Area ; Body Weight/physiology ; Drinking Water/standards ; *Environmental Exposure ; Humans ; Inhalation/*physiology ; Life Expectancy ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Assessment ; Soil Pollutants/chemistry

OBJECTIVETo evaluate dietary iodine intake and its potential risks among the Chinese population.

METHODSIndividual dietary iodine intake was calculated using food consumption data multiplying by iodine concentration in foods, table salt and drinking water, followed by summing, and then compared with the corresponding age-specific reference values, including Upper Intake Level (UL) and Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI).

RESULTSIn areas with water iodine concentration (WI) lower than 150 μg/L, 80.8% of residents had iodine intake between the RNI and UL, 5.8% higher than UL, and the remaining (13.4%) lower than RNI if iodized salt was consumed. However, in the uniodized salt consumption scenario, only 1.0% of residents between RNI and UL, 1.4% higher than UL, and a large part of residents (97.6%) lower than RNI. In areas with WI higher than 150 μg/L, all residents had iodine intake between RNI and UL if iodized salt was consumed, except 10.5% and 24.9% of residents higher than UL in areas with WI at 150-300 μg/L and higher than 300 μg/L respectively. However, in the uniodized salt consumption scenario, only 1.5% and 1.7% of residents had higher iodine intake than UL respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe findings suggested that in general, the dietary iodine intake by the Chinese population was appropriate and safe at the present stage. People in areas with WI lower than 150 μg/L were more likely to have iodine deficiency. While people in areas with WI higher than 150 μg/L were more likely to have excessive iodine intake if iodized salt was consumed.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Diet ; Drinking Water ; chemistry ; standards ; Female ; Goiter ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Iodine ; administration & dosage ; analysis ; deficiency ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; Sodium Chloride, Dietary ; administration & dosage ; analysis

BACKGROUND: Soil-transmitted helminthes (STH) infections are among the most common infections worldwide and affect the most deprived communities. Adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) prevents environmental contamination, thereby preventing transmission of STH. Cognizant of this, WASH education was implemented in rural Dembiya to reduce intestinal parasitic infections. This study was, therefore, conducted to assess the impacts of the intervention on households' WASH conditions and prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections. METHOD: An uncontrolled before-and-after intervention study was used. Cross-sectional studies were done before and after the intervention. Two hundred twenty-five and 302 under five children were recruited randomly at the baseline and endline, respectively. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and observational checklists. Direct stool examination and Kato-Katz methods were used to identify parasites in the stool. We used percent point change and prevalence ratio (PR) to see the effects of the intervention on WASH conditions and prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections respectively. Pearson chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used to test for statistically significant percentage point changes of WASH conditions. The effect of the intervention on intestinal parasitic infections was statistically tested on the basis of PR with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: The baseline prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was 25.8%, and the endline prevalence was 23.8%. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was not significantly decreased at the endline compared with the baseline [PR = 0.92, 95% CI = (0.62, 1.38)]. Ascaris Lumbricoides was the most prevalent parasitic infection both at the baseline and endline. The proportion of children who had good hygienic condition increased from 1.3% at the baseline to 34.4% at the end line (p <  0.05). The percentage of mothers/care givers who washed hands at different pick times was significantly increased from 24.4% at the baseline to 68.2% at the endline (p <  0.001). The proportion of households who practiced home-based water treatment was significantly increased from 7.6% at the baseline to 47% at the endline (p <  0.001). The proportion of households who used sanitary latrine was increased from 32% at the baseline to 49% at the endline (p <  0.05). CONCLUSION This before-and-after intervention study found that households' WASH performance was significantly improved at the endline compared with the baseline. The endline prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was slightly lower than the baseline prevalence; however, the reduction was not statistically significant. The local health office needs to strengthen the WASH education program, mobilize the community to construct WASH facilities, and support the community to sustain households' WASH performance.
Adult ; Child, Preschool ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drinking Water ; parasitology ; standards ; Ethiopia ; epidemiology ; Family Characteristics ; Feces ; parasitology ; Female ; Health Behavior ; physiology ; Health Education ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Helminthiasis ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Hygiene ; education ; Infant ; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Male ; Prevalence ; Rural Population ; Sanitation ; Soil ; parasitology ; Surveys and Questionnaires