Heavy Metals Toxicity and Human Health

Potable water accessibility is crucial for the proper development and advancement of our society. Nevertheless, communities in Flint, Michigan have experienced lead contamination and have little to no access to safe and clean water while other communities do not have the resources to ensure that the water that reaches their taps is safe for daily consumption. To provide people with better testing resources where they can test their water at no cost, the Union College Water Initiative was established in 2014. The objective of this program is to raise awareness and educate people by testing heavy metals commonly found in drinking water such as lead, copper, and zinc. Kits were distributed across different businesses in Schenectady and Albany, and some parts of New York City, including but not limited to The Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens. The sample kits contained three 60 ml HDPE bottles, and an informative data sheet with instructions. A total of 734 samples have been collected and analyzed using inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Samples were compared to limits in different water regulations set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The three main elements of research were lead, zinc, and copper with drinking water maximum limits of 15 ppb, 5,000 ppb, and 1300 ppb respectively. Out of the 734 samples, 700 of them (95%) lay below the EPA limit of 15 ppb for lead. The remaining 34 samples contained lead concentrations ranging from 16 to 1,151 ppb. For zinc, there were 725 samples with concentrations below the EPA guidelines (about 99%). The samples with concentrations above EPA levels ranged from 5158 to 26,474 ppb. For copper, there were 723 samples for which 99% also had concentrations lower than EPA guidelines. The samples with concentrations above EPA levels ranged from 1311 to 5634 ppb. Although these results are not significant to take regulatory actions, because our program is not a licensed analytical facility, the Union Water College Initiative provides people with resources that allow them to understand and be aware of the existing contaminants found in their drinking water.