Topic: Assessment of accidental exposure and risk to humans associated with petroleum hydrocarbon released into a drinking water supply.

Summary: This presentation will describe the human health risk assessment that was conducted in response to the discovery of accidental petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) impacts in a public drinking water supply of a commercial building. The presentation will describe how the incident occurred and how the environmental investigation was conducted during and after the emergency response. In the preliminary stages, the risk assessment conducted a rapid review of toxicological data and provided preliminary guidelines for screening drinking water samples during the emergency response. The presentation will also describe the methods and assumptions that were used to develop drinking water quality guidelines that were specific to the petroleum hydrocarbons. The site-specific guidelines refined the risk estimates and outcomes of the risk assessment. Finally, the presentation will provide a summary of potential health impacts (i.e., signs and symptoms) that could be experienced by exposure to the detected PHC levels in the water supply.

Primary Author/Conference Presenter:
Karl Bresee
Sr. Scientist
Intrinsik Corp.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

website: http://intrinsik.com

Co-Author:
Karen Phillips, Intrisnik Corp., Alberta, Canada