Examples of HBSL Applications
Several published studies have used Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) to help provide an initial perspective on the potential human-health significance of contaminant concentrations in water. These studies also provide useful examples of analyses and language applied to the use of HBSLs and Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) as water-quality benchmarks:
- National assessment of VOCs in ground water and a corresponding Fact Sheet about what those finding may mean to human health.
- National assessment of pesticides in streams and ground water. This assessment did not use HBSLs, but it contains examples of the application of MCL, Lifetime Health Advisory, and Cancer Risk Concentration values as water-quality benchmarks in the context of human health.
- State-scale analyses of the occurrence of anthropogenic organic compounds in ground water and finished water of community water systems in Nevada and the northern Tampa Bay area in Florida.
- Fact Sheet providing background on the HBSL effort.
- State-scale analyses that applied HBSLs to ground-water quality data in New Jersey (journal article;SIR 2004-5174). Both of these documents use HBSLs calculated using the original methodology, and not the revised methodology described in SIR 2007-5106.
- Original HBSL methodology and history of the HBSL effort.