drinking water meeting long-term consumption standards. Preventive medicine personnel should advise commanders on
selection of water sources and the potential use of short-term consumption standards. The commander must accept the risk of
possible decline in troop performance, increased incidence of disease, casualties from toxic substances, and reduced combat
efficiency with each day the imposition remains in effect.
Table 1. Long-Term Field Water Quality Standards (lees than 1 year)
Long-term consumption: These standards (Table 1-5) apply to all situations that continue for more than 7 days, and
where potable water is produced by water purification units.
These standards were developed by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for municipal drinking water systems. These standards can also be adopted as a
goal to provide the highest quality water possible. In using these standards to evaluate potential health hazards, it is important
for you to consider the target population (field force), duration of exposure, and other factors used to apply the standards to a
given situation. Other factors may involve an NBC situation.
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