[Description of drinking water intake in French communities (E.MI.R.A. study)]

Assessment of risks associated with waterborne pollutants requires a good characterization of the exposure of individuals and populations. This characterization implies knowledge of pollutants' levels in water and their time variability, and also estimation of drinking water consumption. Several studies were conducted, mostly in North America, on levels of chemical contaminants or prevalence of pathogens. Few studies were conducted on drinking water intake of the general population.

This work, included within the E.MI.R.A study which was set up to assess waterborne infectious risks, describes in details daily drinking water consumption of 544 French volunteers. Data were collected by self-questionnaires.

RESULTS differ according to the season. Tap water usage for food follows a normal distribution (arithmetic mean in winter=1.55 l/j, 95% CI [0.20-2.90]; arithmetic mean in spring=1.78 l/j, [0.13-3.43]). Total drinking water intake follows a log-normal distribution (geometric mean in winter=1.60 l/j, standard deviation=1.73 l/j; geometric mean in spring=1.92 l/j, standard deviation=1.70 l/j). Tap water intake amounts to more than 80% of total drinking water consumption, and pure tap water (i.e not added, modified nor boiled) amounts to 42% of total drinking water. RESULTS are also displayed by age, and compared to other data available in the literature.

This work provides data that can be used to develop risk assessment and epidemiological studies in the field of chemical or infectious risks in the context of France.