Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Arsenic In Nebraska's Groundwater And Public Water Supplies, David Gosselin, Lynne Klawer, Angela Noe

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Because arsenic (As) in drinking water is considered a primary contributor to cancer in humans, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently lowered the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic from 50 micrograms per liter (μg/L) to 10 μg/L (1 μg/L ~ I part per billion: ppb). This MCL will become effective in 2006. On a national scale, EPA has estimated that of the 74,000 public water supply systems regulated by this MCL, approximately 4,000 systems will have to make changes to comply with it. Of the affected systems, 97 percent are small systems that serve fewer than 10,000 people …