Characterizing and diagnosing the source of lead in drinking water in British Columbia

This Health System Impact Fellowship is co-funded by CIHR, Michael Smith Health Research BC, and the BC Ministry of Health (health system partner), to help build BC’s health policy research capacity for the integration of policy research into decision-making.

Lead exposure is an ongoing public health concern due to the association with cognitive deficits and neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly in children and infants. While several vectors of exposure (lead-containing paints and toys) have been reported, the prevalence of elevated blood lead levels has decreased over time with growing awareness. Nevertheless, contaminated drinking water has persisted as an important vector, especially in North America, where the most common source of lead is corrosion of plumbing materials, including lead services lines, brass fixtures and fittings, solders, and galvanized steel pipes. Striving to provide safe drinking water to its residents, British Columbia (BC) adopted Health Canada’s maximum acceptable concentration, 5 ug/L, in 2020. However, longitudinal data on lead exposure in water is limited in time and through consistent sampling approaches. The lack of consistent data represents a critical barrier to understanding the lead burden that is contributed from drinking water, thereby delaying appropriate prioritization of this exposure source for British Columbians, and limiting the implementation of mitigation strategies. The goal of this work is to provide the BC Ministry of Health with a comprehensive report of lead in drinking water in BC. This report will outline the risks associated with exposure and will seek to:

1. Identify areas of concern.
2. Determine whether concentrations are related to infrastructure (i.e. building specific, distribution materials), or water quality (e.g. pH, alkalinity, NOM) and treatment (e.g. corrosion control, disinfection).
3. Use novel analytics to diagnose the source of lead in select water samples.
4. Provide recommendation for remediation strategies where appropriate.

The expected deliverable is an extensive report of the above to foster evidence-based decision making.

Source: CIHR Funding Decisions Database