DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATION WITH METALS

* M.S. GIMENEZ ** S.M. ALVAREZ, * E. LARREGLE,

Drinking water contamination. Toxicity and Treatment

Nova publishers

Lugar: New York; Año: 2008; p. 21 - 41

It is estimated that contamination of drinking water with heavy metals has considerable impact on the health of the world population. The supply of high quality drinking water of is, therefore, necessary to develop and apply suitable processes which allow the reduction of hazardous metals - arsenic, cadmium, lead - below the international standards set for drinking water. Due to the discharge of untreated or insufficiently treated industrial waste waters or waste disposal, many water resources exhibit increased concentrations of heavy metals. The contamination of drinking water with metals represents a serious problem in human health that results in direct toxic effects causing nephropathies, hepatic necrosis, pulmonary emphysema, osteoporosis, hormone alterations, exacerbation of autoimmune disease, and its well-known carcinogenic effect. The adverse consequences of exposure to water contamination on reproductive organs have been widely considered; some of them can be the long-term impairment of neurobehavioral status, and alteration in complex behaviors, such as learning. Particular attention has to be paid to the fact that the treatment of drinking water - due the large volumes needed - must be selective when eliminating heavy metals, and must not eliminate other components which should remain in the water.