Contamination Coats Your Skin

Miami Herald

Contamination in the shower

Even if it is all right to drink the water , it may not be safe to shower in it. Three toxi-cologists at the Massachusetts Dept. of  Environmental Quality Engineering say that swimming, bathing or showering in polluted water may be more dangerous than swallowing it.

The toxicologists say that for an adult's typical daily exposure - drinking roughly one-half gallon of water and taking a 15 minute bath - about two-thirds of the chemicals absorbed by the body can  come through the skin.

Most water purity standards are based on what happens when a person only drinks the water. Joseph Cotruvo of the EPA's Office of  Drinking Water, says his analysts take skin absorption into account only where the contamination levels are unusually high.   

   With respect to exposure : five possible pathways
of human exposure have been identified ( Environ
Corporation 1983 )

1. Direct ingestion (e.g. drinking ).
2. Inhalation of contaminants. (e. g. during showering )
3. Skin absorption from water.
4. Ingestion of contaminated food.
5. Skin absorption from contaminated soil.