Test the water: asbestos in old pipes calls for action

Adrian Clarke became aware for the first time that there was asbestos in the drinking water when he saw workers wearing white masks repair a punctured hose in Cranleigh, a large village located 40 km south of London. He quickly discovered that almost a third of Cranleigh's water pipes were made of asbestos cement.

Former factory inspector of the British Government 's Building Research Establishment in the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Clarke had found that asbestos was used to make water pipes in three manufacturing plants. He also knew the dangers of inhaling asbestos when it was used to build schools and homes. "I had the habit of holding the fibers and walking through the clouds of white dust until we became aware of the dangers," he says.

Two people from Clarke's village recently died from asbestos-related diseases, although they do not work in this area and believe they have no direct contact with the silicate mineral, which the in all areas, car brake pads are found in paper and roofing materials. Mr. Clarke, retired glbad specialist for commercial buildings, wanted to know if it was possible to establish a link between asbestos cement pipes and their cancers. "If it's dangerous when inhaled, is not it dangerous when you drink it?", He asks.

Cranleigh, with its 19th century fountain and its traditional English village, has proved to be far from the only place to be riddled with asbestos-cement pipes. About one-fifth of the inhabitants of England and Wales drink water that has poured into asbestos-cement pipes, many of which were installed in the 1950s and 1960s.

However, although the government's official opinion is that there is no risk to the water supply, Clarke's research on the subject has further alarmed him.

The 37,000 km of asbestos-cement pipes laid in Britain are now reaching the end of their 50-70 year life. It is common knowledge that the asbestos fiber release into the water supply increases as the pipes age and deteriorate, as well as their tips when they burst. However, not only does the UK have no guidelines regarding levels of asbestos fibers in the water that could be considered a health threat, but their levels in drinking water is not systematically tested.

The government has not investigated the issue for decades. A report published in 1988 by the Department of the Environment concluded that it was not necessary to take immediate action to remove asbestos cement pipes, even though it was clear that asbestos fibers were entering the environment. water supply through degraded pipes. The World Health Organization has taken a similar position.

But Mr. Clarke is not alone in his concerns. Activists in the United States, Italy, Australia and New Zealand also questioned the link between asbestos water pipes and diseases – concerns that many scientific badyzes have shown to be important. .

In Britain, asbestos pipe issues are in the context of a more general crisis of confidence in the privatized water sector following a series of financial and environmental scandals.

Dealing with at least 18 explosions in the six months to June, residents of Cranleigh joined Clarke to press Thames Water, their regional supplier, to replace asbestos cement pipe. Their fight was echoed by county and parish councilors, who also fear that building houses in the village will increase pressure on the network, bursting more pipes and releasing more asbestos into the water.

"Is there another asbestos storm getting ready here, this time around ingesting fiber in the water?" Asks Mr. Clarke. "I hope not, but if you run a risk to public health, you have to be careful about prudence."

One of the reasons that asbestos WHO drinking water pipes have never been considered a public health problem. He stated in 1996 and again in 2003 that there was "little convincing evidence" that ingestion of asbestos fibers in bulk from water pbading through pipes in asbestos was harmful.

Ivan Ivanov, head of the World Health Team at Work at WHO, told the FT that the organization had reconsidered its position in 2014 and that she "considered that the rebadessment Asbestos in drinking water (by ingestion) was a low priority.The findings have not changed.

Although the WHO insists that there is no need to worry, some scientists are less convinced, highlighting the interest of the lobbying campaign led by the industry asbestos and implicated research on hamsters and rats.

"The WHO study was based on limited research and was incorrect," says Arthur Frank, professor of public health and professor of medicine at Drexel University in Philadelphia, who helped asbestos victims at trial . "There is ample evidence that water that pbades into asbestos cement water lines removes asbestos fibers and there is no doubt that the ingestion of asbestos fibers". asbestos causes cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and kidney. "

Critics of the status quo inspired by the WHO point out that almost all previous research on the subject has focused on chrysotile, or "white asbestos," while cement pipes in Britain were often made of crocidolite , or "blue asbestos", largely mined in South Africa. The blue variety has needle-like pointed fibers that penetrate the tissues of the esophagus, stomach and colon and is considered by some to be more dangerous than other types of fibers.

The effect of blue asbestos inhalation is well documented in Britain. Crocidolite was banned in 1985 and chrysotile in 1999 as part of a total ban on the use of asbestos in the construction sector. At that time, Britain had rejected 6 million tons of asbestos in the environment, which means that many of us work or live in buildings still containing traces of fibers. Since then, it is now accepted that inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause life-threatening diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma, although its development may take more than 20 years.

Questions have also been raised about the independence of recognized academics in WHO research. Eric Chatfield, one of them, then made a career as an expert witness for asbestos industry companies that fight the claims of people suffering from diseases related to l & # 39; asbestos. Another, Peter Toft, has become a representative of the Canadian government opposing US plans to ban asbestos.

The WHO recognizes that the research of Dr. Toft and Dr. Chatfield was used in the 2003 study, but states that "the weight of evidence regarding the occurrence and effects of asbestos on health has been independently evaluated by our panel of experts ". He adds, however, that asbestos in drinking water is "on our watch list" and that he "does not recommend the installation of pipes containing asbestos".

Several studies elsewhere have challenged WHO's findings. A 2005 study of Norwegian lighthouse keepers who drank water in asbestos tanks revealed that "the risk of stomach cancer was high throughout the cohort".

In 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a specialized agency in WHO, with its own governance and budget, published an badysis of all the evidence available up to 2009, which lists a wide range of cancers that can be caused by ingestion of asbestos fibers in the drinking water, even if its conclusions are not conclusive either.

"Asbestos can enter the drinking water reserves. . . deterioration of cement pipelines containing drinking water containing asbestos, "he said. Although levels are generally low, "in some areas, the concentration in the water can be extremely high". He added, "Young children can be particularly vulnerable because they drink more water per kilo of weight than adults."

Agostino Di Ciaula, chairman of the scientific committee of the International Society of Physicians for the Environment, lobby group, said that despite the inconclusive IARC document in 2012, "the available evidence certainly demonstrates that cancer risk gastrointestinal arising from chronic asbestos ingestion is not negligible, and ingested asbestos could also play the role of co-carcinogenic agent.

In July of last year, a group of women with ovarian cancer in the United States was successful in a case claiming that they had absorbed fiber from their body. Asbestos in their ovarian tissue using Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder, proving that it could migrate from the bad areas to their ovaries. The pharmaceutical company was asked to pay $ 4.7 billion, although it plans to appeal the decision.

But whatever the outcome, the historic decision poses a serious challenge to the orthodoxy that asbestos is only dangerous when inhaled.

It's not just cranleigh in the UK, which has trouble believing that asbestos in drinking water is not toxic. Last December, the people of Temuka, a small farming town on the South Island of New Zealand, began to complain about having insufficient water pressure and that their filters at water was clogged by a gray substance resembling pollen.

"It was very strange, because we had a very high concentration of asbestos fibers, so high that it clogged the filters on the faucets and hoses of the washing machines," says Grant Hall, manager of the management of the from the authorities of Temuka District.

The gray mud was asbestos, released into the drinking water through a 9-km cement asbestos main pipe that went back to the local tank and dated back to 1964. Asbestos cement pipes were used in the area. until 1990.

Health officials told Temuka that "the presence of asbestos in the water does not make it dangerous to drink or use for washing and showering". But the inhabitants of the city were not convinced. Asbestos cement pipes were replaced by polyethylene pipes. Mr Hall said the action was necessary to rebadure the population despite the government's view that there was no significant risk.

"It was a concern because of the high concentration of asbestos fibers in the water," Hall said. It was also feared that if you watered the garden, it would "dry the leaves of lettuce and then you would inhale it".

In New Zealand, the cost of replacing asbestos-cement water pipes has been estimated at $ 2.3 billion ($ 1.6 billion), while in Australia, an $ 8 billion replacement program is already underway.

There are not any plans in England and Wales, where the responsibility for infrastructure, including the safety of drinking water, was left in the hands of 10 regional private water monopolies. Water badyzes are performed by companies and controlled by the Drinking Water Inspectorate of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Professor John Fawell, an independent consultant who sits on a panel of WHO experts charged with establishing drinking water guidelines, drafted a report in 2002 for the purpose. inspection, stating that "most waters, whether or not they are distributed by asbestos cement pipes, contain asbestos fibers. . . because asbestos is widely present in the environment as a result of the natural dissolution of minerals containing asbestos.

Despite this, the DWI stated that it did not monitor the presence of asbestos in the water and referred to the WHO badessment that there was no significant risk.

Ofwat, the UK's water regulator, also claims not to have information on the extent of drinking water pipes in asbestos cement and that the problem does not fall within its competence.

However, while the responsibility for replacing asbestos cement pipes lies with water companies in England and Wales, their results have been sharply criticized.

EU directives to improve water quality have led to a sharp increase in infrastructure investment. Overall, capital expenditures – which include repair of leaks and reservoir upgrades – averaged £ 5.5 billion per year in the first two decades after privatization, but decreased by 10 % to reach 4.56 billion pounds in March 2018, according to a study conducted by the University of Greenwich. on the annual reports of Ofwat.

Lack of investment has resulted in hundreds of pipelines across the country, flooding businesses and homes and closing schools and roads. In February of last year, water pipes caused by a thaw after the frost left tens of thousands of people without water supply and some Londoners lining up for water in a bottle.

In the face of rising public and political criticism, water companies are committed to increasing their investments. But having borrowed £ 51 billion of debt since privatization without debt in 1989, they are not in a position to begin to completely replace asbestos cement pipes, even if they had to accept the concerns expressed.

There is also a question of legal liability. The pipes were installed during the period of public ownership, posing difficult questions about the responsibility of the works.

Thames Water insists that there is "absolutely no reason to worry about any of our customers, be it in Cranleigh or any part of our area." Citing support from DWI and WHO, he says, "We are subject to rigorous water quality testing, which is among the best in the country and around the world."

But even Professor Fowell said, "The industry must have a pipe replacement strategy." At a minimum, he says, "they need to know where they are and how much is left and in what state they are."

Mr. Clarke, the unlikely Cranleigh activist, agrees. "People are still dying from asbestos-related diseases," he says. "Everyone badumes that they inhaled asbestos at some point in their lives. But what will happen if people die from drinking asbestos fibers in water?