Regulations for calcium, magnesium or hardness in drinking water in the European Union member states
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4. Results
This section presents a brief description of these regulations. A more detailed overview of individual countries is provided in Table 2 . Even though the EU Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC currently does not regulate Ca, Mg, or TH, 12 member states address these im- portant water constituents in their national legally-based regulation. One country, in addition to the regulations, specifies a minimum Ca level to help prevent corrosion in the guidelines. Six other countries regulate Ca, Mg, or TH through guidelines or technical standards; the UK also issues an educational brochure for the public. Two countries have no regulation or guidance, but published information on health importance of water hardness for general public. Only eight countries have no regulation, guidance or educational information. Eleven of the 12 countries with legally-based regulations provide numerical limits, expressing either minimum or maximum allowed. The Croatian regulation requires regular monitoring for Ca, Mg, and TH, but no limit values are provided; if any interpretation is needed, the WHO guidelines are referenced. Six countries include a recommended range of limits for TH: minimum 0.6–1.5 mmol/L and maximum 3.5–6.25 mmol/L. One country established only a minimum level of TH (0.9 mmol/L), while another established only a maximum level of TH (6 mmol/L). Czech Republic has recommended ranges individually for Ca (40–80 mg/L) and Mg (20–30 mg/L). Slovakia recommends a range only for Mg (10–30 mg/L). Nine countries consider TH or Ca and Mg as indicators, which means their limit values are of lower importance than chemical para- meters like lead or arsenic. However, the order of obligation in fact differs between the countries, which is a reflection of different inter- pretation of status of indicators. On the other hand, if water is artifi- cially softened or desalinated, minimum TH level is legally required in four countries (Belgium, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands) with levels ranging from 0.9 to 1.5 mmol/L. The other countries (Czech Rep., Slovakia) require obligatory minimum levels of Ca (30 mg/L) and Mg (10 mg/L) in case of softening or desalination. Ten countries have established mandatory maximum levels for Ca and Mg. In four countries, the upper limit for Ca ranged from 100 to 270 mg/L, and in six countries, the upper limit for Mg ranged from 30 to 125 mg/L. Comparisons of limit values and recommended ranges for Ca, Mg and hardness is shown in Fig. 1 A–C. In six countries with minimum recommended guidelines, the limits are to help prevent corrosion, either due to naturally soft water pro- duced or treated by desalination or softening. In two countries minimum Ca levels of 20 and 10 mg/L were recommended. In three countries the minimum TH ranged from 0.8 to 1.5 mmol/L. One country provided detailed instruction for water remineralization tech- nologies with numerical values only for indicators of corrosion. Three countries recommend upper Ca, Mg or TH levels to prevent scaling. Three countries provide for written information for consumers on why, from the health point of view, it is not wise to soften water which is used for drinking or cooking. One also recommends softening only hot water and recommends a minimum of 1.0–1.5 mmol/L TH to pre- vent corrosion. Download 0.53 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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