IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i3p276-d92574.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonium Variability in Drinking Water Distribution Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Jörg Schullehner

    (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), C.F. Møllers Allé 8, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
    National Centre for Register-Based Research, Department of Economics and Business Economics, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Fuglesangs Allé 4, 8210 Aarhus V, Denmark)

  • Leslie Stayner

    (School of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612, USA)

  • Birgitte Hansen

    (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), C.F. Møllers Allé 8, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark)

Abstract

Accurate assessments of exposure to nitrate in drinking water is a crucial part of epidemiological studies investigating long-term adverse human health effects. However, since drinking water nitrate measurements are usually collected for regulatory purposes, assumptions on (1) the intra-distribution system variability and (2) short-term (seasonal) concentration variability have to be made. We assess concentration variability in the distribution system of nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium, and seasonal variability in all Danish public waterworks from 2007 to 2016. Nitrate concentrations at the exit of the waterworks are highly correlated with nitrate concentrations within the distribution net or at the consumers’ taps, while nitrite and ammonium concentrations are generally lower within the net compared with the exit of the waterworks due to nitrification. However, nitrification of nitrite and ammonium in the distribution systems only results in a relatively small increase in nitrate concentrations. No seasonal variation for nitrate, nitrite, or ammonium was observed. We conclude that nitrate measurements taken at the exit of the waterworks are suitable to calculate exposures for all consumers connected to that waterworks and that sampling frequencies in the national monitoring programme are sufficient to describe temporal variations in longitudinal studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jörg Schullehner & Leslie Stayner & Birgitte Hansen, 2017. "Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonium Variability in Drinking Water Distribution Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-9, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:3:p:276-:d:92574
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/3/276/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/3/276/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yuanyuan Zhang & Duujong Lee & Jing Ding & Jianfeng Lu, 2020. "Environmental Impact of High Concentration Nitrate Migration in Soil System Using HYDRUS Simulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Pirjo-Liisa Rantanen & Ilkka Mellin & Minna M. Keinänen-Toivola & Merja Ahonen & Riku Vahala, 2018. "The Seasonality of Nitrite Concentrations in a Chloraminated Drinking Water Distribution System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Mary H. Ward & Rena R. Jones & Jean D. Brender & Theo M. De Kok & Peter J. Weyer & Bernard T. Nolan & Cristina M. Villanueva & Simone G. Van Breda, 2018. "Drinking Water Nitrate and Human Health: An Updated Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-31, July.
    4. Pernille Jul Clemmensen & Nis Brix & Jörg Schullehner & Anne Gaml-Sørensen & Gunnar Toft & Sandra Søgaard Tøttenborg & Ninna Hinchely Ebdrup & Karin Sørig Hougaard & Birgitte Hansen & Torben Sigsgaard, 2022. "Nitrate in Maternal Drinking Water during Pregnancy and Measures of Male Fecundity in Adult Sons," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:3:p:276-:d:92574. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.