Lead in water linked to coagulant

摘要

High levels of lead in drinking water that poisoned a child in Durham,N.C.,probably resulted from a change in the coagulant used to remove organic matter,says a corrosion scientist who tested the Durham water.The incident raises the specter of similar undetected problems in other parts of the U.S.,says Marc Edwards,a corrosion engineer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.This case is especially vexing because Durham's routine water-quality monitoring,which is required by the U.S.EPA's Lead and Copper Rule,failed to detect the problem in 2004.