Reconstructing Historical Exposures to Volatile Organic Compound-Contaminated Drinking Water at a U.S. Military Base

• Published in: Exposure and health Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 49 - 68
• Main Authors: Maslia, M. L., Aral, M. M., Faye, R. E., Suárez-Soto, R. J., Sautner, J. B., Wang, J., Jang, W., Bove, F. J., Ruckart, P. Z.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2009; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Birth defects; Children; Congenital defects; Contaminants; Contamination; Drinking water; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Fetuses; Groundwater; Groundwater flow; Housing; Organic compounds; Original Paper; Pollution; Tetrachloroethylene; Toxic diseases; Toxic substances; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Waste Water Technology; Water and Health; Water Management; Water pollution; Water Pollution Control; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water supply; United States > US; USA, North Carolina; ISEW, Pacific, Kiribati, Gilbert Is., Tarawa; Camp Lejeune; North Carolina; Historical reconstruction; USA; PCE; Contaminated drinking water; Volatile organic compound (VOC); TCE; Exposure; Epidemiological study
• ISSN: 1876-1658; 2451-9766; 1876-1666; 2451-9685
• DOI: 10.1007/s12403-009-0010-y

Two of three water-distribution systems that have historically supplied drinking water to family housing at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Scientific data relating to the harmful effects of VOCs on a child or fetus are limited. Therefore, the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is conducting an epidemiological study to evaluate potential associations between in utero and infant (up to 1 year of age) exposures to VOCs in contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune and specific birth defects and childhood cancers. The study includes births that occurred during the period 1968–1985 to women who were pregnant while they resided in family housing at Camp Lejeune. To support the epidemiological study, water-modeling techniques are being used to reconstruct historical conditions of groundwater flow, contaminant fate and transport, and the distribution of drinking water contaminated with VOCs. Results for this phase of the study indicate that PCE concentrations in drinking water, delivered to the Tarawa Terrace housing area, exceeded the current maximum contaminant level for PCE of 5 micrograms per liter (μg/L) for 346 months—November 1957–February 1987; the maximum simulated PCE concentration in Tarawa Terrace drinking water was 183 μg/L during March 1984 compared to a measured concentration of 215 μg/L during February 1985.