cause an infant’s hemoglobin is more reactive with nitrites than an adult’s.
Mothers who are themselves unaected by nitrate may pass
it on to their in—
tants in breast milk. Children may also receive nitrate from cow’s milk if the
cows drink water high in nitrate, from vegetables that have taken in nitrates
from the soil, or from processed foods to which nitrate or nitrite has been
added (if the food is not fresh or properly refrigerated, the nitrate may be
converted to nitrite).
Since the link between nitrate intake and methemoglobinemia was rst
identied in 1945, more than 1000 cases of infant methemoglobinemia have
been reported throughout the world, with 83 deaths. The more than 278 cases
reported in the United States in the late 19405 were associated With high lev—
els of nitrate in the water used in the infants’ formula; 89 of these babies died
[17]. The disease is now better understood and, since 1960, no fatalities have
been reported. Cases may have gone unreported, however, since it is not required that this disease be reported to public health oicials [18].
Deicing Salt.
In areas where winter snows are heavy and the use of salt
for deicing is correspondingly large, chloride and sodium in drinking water
have risen alarmingly [19]. This is especially true where drinking water
sources
are
close to highways. In Massachusetts, the town of Burlington
passed a salt ban on all town—maintained roads after chloride in one source of
the town’s drinking water reached 272 ppm—32 ppm in excess of the drinking
water standard. Weston, another Massachusetts town, has been unable to use
its public water supply since May 1970 and has had to import water from the
Boston metropolitan system. The problem is general in Massachusetts and
presents the greatest health danger to people su?ering from heart disease, hypertension, and other conditions requiring low salt intake such as dropsy, re—
nal disease, cirrhosis of the liver, obesity, and several pregnancy com—
_
plications. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a limit of 22
ppm of sodium (a concentration reached at 59 ppm of chloride) for people
whose diets are restricted to less than a quarter of the normal adult intake of
four grams of sodium per day. The AHA warned that the drinking water in 62
_:
communities in Massachusetts contained excess amounts of sodium in 1970
j
and, in the same year, the state’s Commissioner of Public Health alerted phy—
sicians to the problem.
The problem is by no means conned to Massachusetts, however. Chlo—
ride concentrations have been measured in highway runoff at 10,250 ppm
in
'
Wisconsin and 1900—4500 ppm in Chicago, jumping to 11,000—25,000 when
salt was applied to roads during storms [20]. If such heavily contaminated
runo continues, the problem Which surfaced rst in Massachusetts Will even—
tually reach other communities.
In addition to the actual deicing agents sodium chloride and calcium chloride, other chemicals are associated With road deicing: Ferric ferrocyanide
and sodium ferrocyanide are sometimes added to eliminate caking of the salt
in storage and sodium hexametaphosphate and chromate saltsto inhibit au—
.
1 56
Drinking Water
Mothers who are themselves unaected by nitrate may pass
it on to their in—
tants in breast milk. Children may also receive nitrate from cow’s milk if the
cows drink water high in nitrate, from vegetables that have taken in nitrates
from the soil, or from processed foods to which nitrate or nitrite has been
added (if the food is not fresh or properly refrigerated, the nitrate may be
converted to nitrite).
Since the link between nitrate intake and methemoglobinemia was rst
identied in 1945, more than 1000 cases of infant methemoglobinemia have
been reported throughout the world, with 83 deaths. The more than 278 cases
reported in the United States in the late 19405 were associated With high lev—
els of nitrate in the water used in the infants’ formula; 89 of these babies died
[17]. The disease is now better understood and, since 1960, no fatalities have
been reported. Cases may have gone unreported, however, since it is not required that this disease be reported to public health oicials [18].
Deicing Salt.
In areas where winter snows are heavy and the use of salt
for deicing is correspondingly large, chloride and sodium in drinking water
have risen alarmingly [19]. This is especially true where drinking water
sources
are
close to highways. In Massachusetts, the town of Burlington
passed a salt ban on all town—maintained roads after chloride in one source of
the town’s drinking water reached 272 ppm—32 ppm in excess of the drinking
water standard. Weston, another Massachusetts town, has been unable to use
its public water supply since May 1970 and has had to import water from the
Boston metropolitan system. The problem is general in Massachusetts and
presents the greatest health danger to people su?ering from heart disease, hypertension, and other conditions requiring low salt intake such as dropsy, re—
nal disease, cirrhosis of the liver, obesity, and several pregnancy com—
_
plications. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a limit of 22
ppm of sodium (a concentration reached at 59 ppm of chloride) for people
whose diets are restricted to less than a quarter of the normal adult intake of
four grams of sodium per day. The AHA warned that the drinking water in 62
_:
communities in Massachusetts contained excess amounts of sodium in 1970
j
and, in the same year, the state’s Commissioner of Public Health alerted phy—
sicians to the problem.
The problem is by no means conned to Massachusetts, however. Chlo—
ride concentrations have been measured in highway runoff at 10,250 ppm
in
'
Wisconsin and 1900—4500 ppm in Chicago, jumping to 11,000—25,000 when
salt was applied to roads during storms [20]. If such heavily contaminated
runo continues, the problem Which surfaced rst in Massachusetts Will even—
tually reach other communities.
In addition to the actual deicing agents sodium chloride and calcium chloride, other chemicals are associated With road deicing: Ferric ferrocyanide
and sodium ferrocyanide are sometimes added to eliminate caking of the salt
in storage and sodium hexametaphosphate and chromate saltsto inhibit au—
.
1 56
Drinking Water