In: Civil Engineering
A community’s groundwater has been contaminated by perchloroethylene after years of operation of a dry-cleaning business. Groundwater supplies a spring that feeds a pond and stream and is also the source for a well. A local family relies on the well for their drinking water and regularly eats fish caught in the stream and pond. The concentration of perchloroethylene in the groundwater is found to be 80 mg/L, and the chronic oral RfD is 0.006 mg/kg/day.
a.) Assuming all exposure to perchloroethylene comes from consumption of fish and water, and that children and adults eat the same amount of fish on average per day, calculate the Estimated Exposure Dose (EED) for an adult and a child.
b.) What are the adult and child hazard ratios (HR) for this scenario? Interpret the results.
The average body weight of an adult is 70kg, the average body weight of a child is 10kg, and the amount of fish consumed is 6.5g/day.