In small doses: A Dartmouth arsenic film

By Beth Daley

It’s something many people with private wells in New England need to know: There may be arsenic in their drinking water. In recent years, scientists have detailed areas of high, naturally-occuring arsenic in parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.

That metal, a carcinogen, can get into drinking water supplies in harmful levels sometimes two or three time the maximum allowed under federal regulation.

The levels found in New England drinking water won't make anyone sick immediately, but may over time. People who spend a lifetime drinking water with high arsenic levels have an increased risk of developing bladder or lung cancer, according to a report by the National Research Council. Studies also have linked arsenic in drinking water to neurological problems and developmental delays in children. The EPA strengthened the public drinking water standard to 10 parts per billion, down from 50 parts, in 2001. However, private wells are not regulated and homeowners often don't test them.

Now, new research out of Dartmouth College shows that exposure over time to tiny amounts of arsenic – of the ilk found in some New England wells – can potentially weaken the immune system. Hoping to encourage owners of private wells in New England to check levels of arsenic in water, the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Research Program has created a short film: In Small Doses: Arsenic.

In addition to explaining the science behind arsenic contamination, and identifying areas of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine with the highest concentrations of arsenic, the video discusses relatively inexpensive ways for well-owners to test and treat their water.

 "We are all concerned that it's 2010 and still most private well owners are not testing, in spite of concrete evidence that wells in New Hampshire contain potentially high and harmful levels of arsenic if ingested over long periods of time," said Bruce Stanton, director of the toxic metals program and a professor of physiology at Dartmouth Medical School (DMS).

Dartmouth Medical School received a National Institutes of Health grant to help produce the video and collaborated on it with the U.S. EPA, US Geological Survey and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.

* Thanks to Dartmouth for correcting that arsenic is not a heavy metal, as I had originally written.

Here's the video: