The extent of asbestos contamination in sources of drinking water in the state of California is being monitored. Preliminary results show substantial fiber concentrations in surface waters whose watersheds include serpentine rock. These concentrations exhibit seasonal variations, with the largest concentrations occurring during or just following heavy rains in the watershed. Some of the concentrations were the highest measured anywhere in the world. Asbestos was also found in groundwater taken from wells that are recharged through serpentine rock. Water treatment was found to have widely varying success in the removal of asbestos fibers. In one case reduction by a factor of 5 × 104 was observed as a result of conventional coagulation‐filtration. Although sparse, the data on treatment suggest that the percentage removal of fibers depends on the initial concentration.
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Steven B. Hayward (1984) studied this question.
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