1. ^aOffice of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment, US EPA, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
2. ^bScience Applications International Corporation, Falls Church, Virginia, USA

Correspondence: Dr. Henry D. Kahn, Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment, US EPA, MC 8623D, Washington, DC 20640, USA. Tel.: +703-347-8591; Fax: +703-347-8692; E-mail: kahn.henry@epa.gov

¹Present address: US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Bethesda, MD, USA

Received 21 June 2007; Accepted 20 March 2008; Published online 14 May 2008.

Abstract

Water ingestion estimates are important for the assessment of risk to human populations of exposure to water-borne pollutants. This paper reports mean and percentile estimates of the distributions of daily average per capita water ingestion for a number of age range groups. The age ranges, based on guidance from the US EPA's Risk Assessment Forum, are narrow for younger ages when development is rapid and wider for older ages when the rate of development decreases. Estimates are based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) 1994–1996 and 1998 Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII). Water ingestion estimates include water ingested directly as a beverage and water added to foods and beverages during preparation at home or in local establishments. Water occurring naturally in foods or added by manufacturers to commercial products (beverage or food) is not included. Estimates are reported in milliliters (ml/person/day) and milliliters per kilogram of body weight (ml/kg/day). As a by-product of constructing estimates in terms of body weight of respondents, distributions of self-reported body weights based on the CSFII were estimated and are also reported here.