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ABSTRACT
A method was developed that evaluated the exposure and health risk to children from swimming in outdoor pools filled with contaminated water. It was found that dermal absorption of trichloroethylene (TCE) was significantly larger than the inhalation component of the exposures. It was estimated that the inhalation route accounted for only 1% of the total exposure, whereas accidental ingestion was 7% of the child's total intake and the dermal absorbed dose was 92% of the total exposure. The relative percentage of the total exposure estimated for each exposure route indicated that the dermal exposure route and accidental ingestion of pool water should not be ignored for volatile compounds when evaluating exposure.
The method utilized was simple enough to use computer spreadsheets for the calculations and can be easily adapted to various swimming scenarios and age groups. This method also included an assessment of the uncertainty in the exposure and risk estimates. The range of estimated exposures was 40 μ g to 442 μ g of TCE per swimming season. All values in this range were below the health benchmark for both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic endpoints.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS), Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), Bureau of Safe Drinking Water for their support of this work. In addition, the authors thank Dr. Jerald Fagliano, Michael Berry, and Dr. Daniel Lefkowitz of NJDHSS and Dr. Paul Sanders and Dr. Gloria Post of NJDEP for their helpful comments and reviews of this work. This work was funded by a cooperative agreement between NJDHSS and NJDEP under the supervision of Ms. Sandra Krietzman and Mr. Barker Hamill.