Drinking Water Quality: Temporary Deviations from Hygienic Standards

Introduction: Current legislation permits a phased achievement of drinking water quality standards by making decisions on temporary deviations from hygienic standards for the period of design, construction, and/or upgrade of water supply facilities.

Objective: To substantiate the mechanism for coordinating temporary deviations of concentrations of certain chemicals in drinking water from hygienic standards for the period of implementing measures for water quality improvement.

Materials and methods: We applied methods of sanitary and epidemiological expert examination and assessment and the method of system analysis to review and study current regulations, results of laboratory testing of water quality in centralized cold water supply systems for 2011–2019, and action plans of 83 constituent entities of the Russian Federation for improvement of tap water quality.

Results: We established that violation of hygienic standards was most often registered for aluminum, boron, bromine, iron, silicon, lithium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, and chloroform. Hygienic requirements for tap water quality determine necessary technological solutions to be implemented at water treatment facilities; yet, their implementation requires a certain amount of time and might cause temporary tap water quality deterioration making it necessary to agree with the local bodies in charge of federal sanitary and epidemiological surveillance a phased transition to eliminating threat to public health from poor quality drinking water.

Conclusions: The authors propose an algorithm for conducting a risk assessment and a mechanism for decision making on temporary deviations.

1. Healthcare issues. Drinking-Water. World Health Organization. June 14, 2019. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water

2. Zaitseva NV, Sboev AS, Kleyn SV, Vekovshinina SA. Drinking water quality: Health risk factors and efficiency of control and surveillance activities by Rospotrebnadzor. Health Risk Analysis. 2019;(2):44–55. doi: 10.21668/health.risk/2019.2.05.eng

3. Vasilyeva MV, Natarova AA, Melikhova EP. [Hygienic value of drinking water in human life.] Simvol Nauki. 2016;(3):180–181. (In Russ.)

4. Rosolovsky AP. The state of sources of centralized water supply and the impact of drinking water quality on population health of the Novgorod region. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2016;(1(274)):8–10. (In Russ.)

5. Lapshin AP, Vankova AN. Integral assessment of drinking water quality. In: Health Risk Analysis–2020: Proceedings of the Tenth Scientific and Practical Conference in Conjunction with the International Meeting on Environment and Health Rise–2020 and the Round Table on Food Safety, Perm, May 13–15, 2020. Popova AYu, Zaitseva NV, eds. Perm: Perm National Polytechnic University Publ., 2020;129–136. (In Russ.)

6. Arutyunova IYu, Yagunkov SYu. [Investigation of various technological modes of water treatment aimed at reducing the content of organochlorine compounds in drinking water.] In: Projects of Urban Development: Collection of Scientific Papers of GUP Mosvodokanal NII proekt. Moscow: Prima-press Expo Publ., 2008;(8)57–68. (In Russ.)

7. Malysheva АG, Rastyannikov EG, Kozlova NYu, et al. [Products of transformation of substances in water during disinfection with strong oxidants.] In: Proceedings of the International Congress “Water. Ecology. Technology”. Moscow: EKVATEK Publ, 2008;117–123. (In Russ.)

8. Sakanskaja-Gritsay EI. Problems and prospects for improvement of water treatment. Tekhniko-Tekhnologicheskie Problemy Servisa. 2014;(3(29)):88–95. (In Russ.)

9. Donchenko AI, Tulakin AV, Ampleeva GP, Danilovskaya LA. On the question of halogen-containing compounds formed during chlorination of drinking water. Sanitarnyy Vrach. 2018;(4):38–43. (In Russ.)

10. Environmental Health Criteria 216. Disinfectants and Disinfectant By-Products. Geneva: WHO; 2000. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/ehc/216_disinfectants_part_1.pdf

11. Egorova NA, Bukshuk AA, Krasovskiy GN. Hygienic assessment of drinking water chlorination by-products in view of multiroute exposure. Gigiena i Sanitariya. 2013;92(2):18–24. (In Russ.)

12. Ahmed F, Mishra V. Estimating relative immediacy of water-related challenges in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Pacific Ocean using AHP modeling. Model Earth Syst Environ. 2020;6:201–214. doi: 10.1007/s40808-019-00671-2

13. Qasemi M, Farhang M, Biglari H, et al. Health risk assessments due to nitrate levels in drinking water in villages of Azadshahr, northeastern Iran. Environ Earth Sci. 2018;77(23):782. doi: 10.1007/s12665-018-7973-6

14. Gorbanev SA, Eremin GB, Novikova YuA, Vyucheyskaya DS. Federal project “Clean water”. First results. Zdorov’e – Osnova Chelovecheskogo Potentsiala: Problemy i Puti Ikh Resheniya. 2019;14(1):252–259. (In Russ.)

15. Zaitseva NV, May IV, Kleyn SV, Sedusova EV. An experience of establishing and proving of harm to the public health caused by consumption of drinking water containing hyperchlorination products. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2015;(12(273)):16–18. (In Russ.)

16. Fridman KB, Novikova YuA, Belkin AS. On the issue of the use of health risk assessment techniques for hygienic characteristics of water supply systems. Gigiena i Sanitariya. 2017;96(7):686–689. (In Russ.) doi: 10.18821/0016-9900-2017-96-7-686-689

17. Rakhmanin YuA, Meltser AV, Kiselev AV, Erastova NV. Hygienic substantiation of management decisions with the use of the integral assessment of drinking water on indices of chemical harmlessness and epidemiological safety. Gigiena i Sanitariya. 2017;96(4):302–305. (In Russ.) doi: 10.18821/0016-9900-2017-96-4-302-305

18. Valeev TK, Sulejmanov RA, Baktybaeva ZB, Egorova NN, Daukaev RA, Rakhmatullin NR. Ecological-hygienic assessment of the risk to public health of the Republic of Bashkortostan, due to the quality of drinking water. Bezopasnost’ Zhiznedeyatel’nosti. 2017;(11(203)):57–64. (In Russ.)

19. Nefedova ED, Hamalainen MM, Kovzharovskaia IB, Shevchik GV. Risk-oriented approach to the arrangement of drinking water quality control. Vodosnabzhenie i Sanitarnaya Tekhnika. 2018;(3):5–9. (In Russ.)

20. Kiku PF, Kislitsyna LV, Bogdanova VD, Sabirova KM. Hygienic evaluation of the quality of drinking water and risks for the health of the population of the Primorye territory. Gigiena i Sanitariya. 2019;98(1):94–101. (In Russ.) doi: 10.18821/0016-9900-2019-98-1-94-101

21. Kleyn SV, Vekovshinina SA. Priority risk factors related to drinking water from centralized water supply system that create negative trends in population health. Health Risk Analysis. 2020;(3):48–59. (In Russ.) doi: 10.21668/health.risk/2020.3.06.eng

22. Fedorov VN, Tikhonova NA, Zaytsev OB, Myasnikov IO. Experience of agreement of temporal deviations from hygienic regulations for drinking water quality. Zdorov’e – Osnova Chelovecheskogo Potentsiala: Problemy i Puti Ikh Resheniya. 2019;14(Pt 1):359–365. (In Russ.)