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Article: Community exposure to sodium hydroxide in a public water supply.
- Article from:
- Journal of Environmental Health
- Article date:
- September 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 National Environmental Health Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Introduction and Background
The literature is replete with descriptions of injuries resulting from oral ingestion of sodium hydroxide (1-6). Most of the literature describes morbidity involved with ingestion or contact with cleaning products such as liquid and granular lye products. This paper discusses the adverse health effects experienced by a community after exposure to sodium hydroxide in a public water supply.
The incident occurred in a small city located in northeastern Texas. According to the 1990 census, the population of this city is approximately 12,000 (7). The city has one hospital. The municipal water supply consists of a conventional surface ...