Table 3 Prevalence of contaminants within well water in surveys of well water owners
From: Factors influencing perceptions of private water quality in North America: a systematic review
Study | Contaminant | Proportion of participants exceeding MAC |
|---|---|---|
Pieper et al. [33] | Arsenic | 0.10% |
Cadmium | 0.60% | |
Chromium | 0.00% | |
Fluoride | 0.40% | |
Nitrate | 1.30% | |
Total coliform | 46% | |
E. coli | 10% | |
Copper | 12% | |
Lead | 19% | |
Aluminium | 3.80% | |
Chloride | 0.20% | |
Copper | 15% | |
Iron | 8.00% | |
Manganese | 10.00% | |
pH | 26% | |
Silver | 0.00% | |
Sulphate | 2.40% | |
TDS | 10% | |
Zinc | 3.10% | |
Walker et al. [39] | Arsenic | N/A (did not present proportion who actually exceeded MAC) |
Poe et al. [31] | Nitrate | 18% |
Lothorp et al. [51] | Aluminium | 31.30% |
Arsenic | 37.50% | |
Iron | 6.25% | |
Lead | 6.25% | |
Antimony | 6.25% | |
Water Hardness | N/A | |
Postma et al. [34] | Total coliform | 18% |
E. coli | < 1% | |
Nitrates | 2% | |
Lead | 0% | |
Copper | 0% | |
Arsenic | 6% | |
Fluoride | 2% | |
Synthetic organic chemicals | 6% | |
Slotnick et al. [69] | Arsenic | 25.30% |
Hexemer et al. [72] | Bacteriological (E. coli and total coliforms) | 15.40% |
Nitrates | 25.30% | |
Tabbot et al. [71] | Total coliform | 14% |
Nitrates | 58% | |
Volatile organic compounds | 26% | |
Hardness | 28% | |
Swistock et al. [73] | Total coliform | 33% |
E. coli | 14% | |
pH | 20% | |
Lead | 12% | |
Nitrates | 2% | |
Arsenic | 2% | |
Triazane | < 1% | |
Strauss et al. [36] | Total coliform | 17.10% |
E. coli | 9.50% | |
Yu et al. [76] | Arsenic | 4.50% |
Kite-Powell et al. [70] | Nitrates | 55%* (during the two periods of data collection) |
Lewandowski et al. [32] | Nitrates | 10%* (based on well type) |
Levallois et al. [42] | Nitrates | 6% |