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Aluminium in drinking water: past mistakes, present complacency  Aluminium in drinking water is
officially regarded as a non-issue for public health. Individuals who claim
to have suffered effects from acute exposure following the Camelford water
pollution incident in 1988 have had their symptoms dismissed or put down
to anxiety. But there is a substantial body of evidence that aluminium is
neurotoxic and that high levels in water may be associated with increased
rates of Alzheimer's disease. Statutory limits on aluminium have been routinely
breached in the past, and the Northern Ireland Water Service still has no
reservations about flouting EC law by supplying water containing aluminium
many times above the legal limit. Two events have recently put the issue of aluminium in drinking water in the news. A long-awaited medical study of the victims of the Camelford incident - in which thousands of people were supplied with acidic drinking water containing high levels of aluminium and other metals - has finally been published. The study has given fresh support to the cases of many who claim to have suffered permanent mental impairment. It also serves as a reminder that the incident and its impacts have never received the impartial investigation they deserve. Aluminium in water was also the subject of a conference organised by the charity Environmental Assistance in October which drew attention to the Northern Ireland Water Service's prolonged and extensive failure to comply with EC limits for the metal. The conference highlighted the possible links between aluminium exposure via drinking water and Alzheimer's disease, and called for epidemiological studies to investigate whether cases in the Province can be linked to the water supply. One eminent Canadian academic, Professor Donald McLachlan, has recommended that aluminium levels in drinking water be kept below 50 micrograms per litre. The figure is only a quarter of the standard set by the 1980 EC Directive on drinking water quality. The Directive also requires Member States to "take as a basis" a guideline value of 50µg/l in setting their own statutory limits. The guideline value is effectively ignored throughout the UK. The drinking water inspectorates for both England and Wales and Northern Ireland say that they only monitor supplies in relation to the 200µg/l standard. And prospects for a more precautionary limit look bleak. The recent revision of the Directive - due to take effect in 2003 - deletes the guideline figure and contains no mandatory standard. The UK is likely to maintain its present limit for the foreseeable future. |
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