Relative source allocation of TDI to drinking water for derivation of a criterion for chloroform: A Monte-Carlo and multi-exposure assessment

Drinking water quality standard (DWQS) criteria for chemicals for which there is a threshold for toxicity are derived by allocating a fraction of tolerable daily intake (TDI) to exposure from drinking water. We conducted physiologically based pharmacokinetic model simulations for chloroform and have proposed an equation for total oral-equivalent potential intake via three routes (oral ingestion, inhalation, and dermal exposures), the biologically effective doses of which were converted to oral-equivalent potential intakes. The probability distributions of total oral-equivalent potential intake in Japanese people were estimated by Monte Carlo simulations. Even when the chloroform concentration in drinking water equaled the current DWQS criterion, there was sufficient margin between the intake and the TDI: the probability that the intake exceeded TDI was below 0.1%. If a criterion that the 95th percentile estimate equals the TDI is regarded as both providing protection to highly exposed persons and leaving a reasonable margin of exposure relative to the TDI, then the chloroform drinking water criterion could be a concentration of 0.11 mg/L. This implies a daily intake equal to 34% of the TDI allocated to the oral intake (2 L/d) of drinking water for typical adults. For the highly exposed persons, inhalation exposure via evaporation from water contributed 53% of the total intake, whereas dermal absorption contributed only 3%.