IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i20p3982-d277959.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public Health Risks Associated with Heavy Metal and Microbial Contamination of Drinking Water in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Paul J Molino

    (Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, Australian Institute for Innovative Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2500, New South Wales, Australia)

  • Richard Bentham

    (College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia)

  • Michael J Higgins

    (Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, Australian Institute for Innovative Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2500, New South Wales, Australia)

  • Jason Hinds

    (Enware Australia Pty Ltd, 11 Endeavour Rd, Caringbah 2229, New South Wales, Australia)

  • Harriet Whiley

    (College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia)

Abstract

Recently in Australia concerns have been raised regarding the contamination of municipal drinking water supplies with lead. This is of particular concern to children due to the impact of lead exposure on cognitive development and as such these findings have received much media attention. The response from legislators has been swift, and The Victorian School Building Authority has announced that all new schools and school upgrade works will only use lead-free tapware and piping systems. However, while the immediate replacement of lead-containing brass fittings may seem a logical and obvious response, it does not consider the potential implications on microbial contamination. This is particularly concerning given the increasing public health threat posed by opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs). This commentary explores this public health risk of lead exposure from plumbing materials compared to the potential public health risks from OPPPs. Non-tuberculous mycobacterium was chosen as the example OPPP, and the influence on plumbing material and its public health burden in Australia is explored. This commentary highlights the need for future research into the influence of plumbing material on OPPPs prior to any changes in legislation regarding plumbing material.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul J Molino & Richard Bentham & Michael J Higgins & Jason Hinds & Harriet Whiley, 2019. "Public Health Risks Associated with Heavy Metal and Microbial Contamination of Drinking Water in Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-12, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:20:p:3982-:d:277959
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/20/3982/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/20/3982/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donna Green & Marianne Sullivan & Nathan Cooper & Annika Dean & Cielo Marquez, 2017. "A Pilot Study of Children’s Blood Lead Levels in Mount Isa, Queensland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Harriet Whiley & Alexandra Keegan & Howard Fallowfield & Richard Bentham, 2014. "Detection of Legionella , L. pneumophila and Mycobacterium Avium Complex (MAC) along Potable Water Distribution Pipelines," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Richard Bentham & Harriet Whiley, 2018. "Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment and Opportunist Waterborne Infections–Are There Too Many Gaps to Fill?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-11, June.
    4. Hanna-Attisha, M. & LaChance, J. & Sadler, R.C. & Schnepp, A.C., 2016. "Elevated blood lead levels in children associated with the flint drinking water crisis: A spatial analysis of risk and public health response," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(2), pages 283-290.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harriet Whiley & Jason Hinds & James Xi & Richard Bentham, 2019. "Real-Time Continuous Surveillance of Temperature and Flow Events Presents a Novel Monitoring Approach for Hospital and Healthcare Water Distribution Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-8, April.
    2. Rama Natarajan & Dana Aljaber & Dawn Au & Christine Thai & Angelica Sanchez & Alan Nunez & Cristal Resto & Tanya Chavez & Marta M. Jankowska & Tarik Benmarhnia & Jiue-An Yang & Veronica Jones & Jernej, 2020. "Environmental Exposures during Puberty: Window of Breast Cancer Risk and Epigenetic Damage," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Harriet Whiley, 2016. "Legionella Risk Management and Control in Potable Water Systems: Argument for the Abolishment of Routine Testing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Kunwar, Samrat B. & Khatiwada, Niraj & Rahman, Mohammad Mashiur & Liu, Menqui & Thapa, Swati & Bohara, Alok K. & Wang, Jingjing, 2023. "Reimagining Teaching Water Issues through Experiential Learning," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 5(3), September.
    5. Jason A. Hubbart & Kaylyn S. Gootman, 2021. "A Call to Broaden Investment in Drinking Water Testing and Community Outreach Programs," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Shan Parker & Vicki Johnson-Lawrence, 2022. "Addressing Trauma-Informed Principles in Public Health through Training and Practice," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Tuviere Onookome-Okome & Angel Hsu & Dean G. Kilpatrick & Angela Moreland & Aaron Reuben, 2023. "Association of Public Works Disasters with Substance Use Difficulties: Evidence from Flint, Michigan, Five Years after the Water Crisis Onset," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(23), pages 1-12, November.
    8. Deniz Yeter & Ellen C. Banks & Michael Aschner, 2020. "Disparity in Risk Factor Severity for Early Childhood Blood Lead among Predominantly African-American Black Children: The 1999 to 2010 US NHANES," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-26, February.
    9. Kai Chen & Xiaoping Lin & Han Wang & Yujie Qiang & Jie Kong & Rui Huang & Haining Wang & Hui Liu, 2022. "Visualizing the Knowledge Base and Research Hotspot of Public Health Emergency Management: A Science Mapping Analysis-Based Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-23, June.
    10. Rui Wang & Xi Chen & Xun Li, 2022. "Something in the pipe: the Flint water crisis and health at birth," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1723-1749, October.
    11. Daniel S. Grossman & David J.G. Slusky, 2019. "The Impact of the Flint Water Crisis on Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(6), pages 2005-2031, December.
    12. Tarik Benmarhnia & Ianis Delpla & Lara Schwarz & Manuel J. Rodriguez & Patrick Levallois, 2018. "Heterogeneity in the Relationship between Disinfection By-Products in Drinking Water and Cancer: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-13, May.
    13. John T. Doyle & Larry Kindness & James Realbird & Margaret J. Eggers & Anne K. Camper, 2018. "Challenges and Opportunities for Tribal Waters: Addressing Disparities in Safe Public Drinking Water on the Crow Reservation in Montana, USA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-13, March.
    14. Helena Modrá & Vít Ulmann & Jan Caha & Dana Hübelová & Ondřej Konečný & Jana Svobodová & Ross Tim Weston & Ivo Pavlík, 2019. "Socio-Economic and Environmental Factors Related to Spatial Differences in Human Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Diseases in the Czech Republic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Richard Casey Sadler & Amanda Y. Kong & Zachary Buchalski & Erika Renee Chanderraj & Laura A. Carravallah, 2021. "Linking the Flint Food Store Survey: Is Objective or Perceived Access to Healthy Foods Associated with Glycemic Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-13, September.
    16. Stephen C. Bondy & Arezoo Campbell, 2017. "Water Quality and Brain Function," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Matthew Tuson & Matthew Yap & Mei Ruu Kok & Bryan Boruff & Kevin Murray & Alistair Vickery & Berwin A. Turlach & David Whyatt, 2022. "Improving the Efficiency of Geographic Target Regions for Healthcare Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-22, November.
    18. Ivan Pantic & Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz & Antonio Rosa-Parra & Luis Bautista-Arredondo & Robert O. Wright & Karen E. Peterson & Lourdes Schnaas & Stephen J. Rothenberg & Howard Hu & Martha María Téllez-Roj, 2018. "Children’s Blood Lead Concentrations from 1988 to 2015 in Mexico City: The Contribution of Lead in Air and Traditional Lead-Glazed Ceramics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-11, September.
    19. Wai Ling Lee & Jie Jia & Yani Bao, 2016. "Identifying the Gaps in Practice for Combating Lead in Drinking Water in Hong Kong," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, September.
    20. Jessica Sauve‐Syed, 2024. "Lead exposure and student outcomes: A study of Flint schools," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 432-448, March.

    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:16:y:2019:i:20:p:3982-:d:277959. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.