Drinking water and long-term health effects

Abstract

The quality of drinking water is known to have positive or negative influences on human health. At present, in the industrialized countries microbiological contaminants in public water supplies are under control, due to the widespread introduction of effective disinfection and potabilization systems. However, of special interest are other public health problems linked with the presence of many water components or contaminants. Since the beginning of this century, fluoride showed to have beneficial effects on dental caries and the practice of adding fluoride to drinking water has been widely followed in many countries for reduction of dental caries. More recently, a large body of scientific information indicates that various characteristics related to water hardness are correlated with incidence of cardiovascular disease. Moreover, the discovery of the presence in drinking water of inorganic and organic contaminants with mutagenic/carcinogenic properties gives rise to public health concern.