Previous research in the U.S. has found negative health effects of contamination when it triggers regulatory violations. An important question is whether levels of contamination that do not trigger a health-based violation impact health. We study the impact of drinking water contamination in community water systems on birth outcomes using drinking water sampling results data in Pennsylvania. We focus on the effects of water contamination for births not exposed to regulatory violations. Our most rigorous specification employs mother fixed effects and finds changing from the 10th to the 90th percentile of water contamination (among births not exposed to regulatory violations) increases low birth weight by 12% and preterm birth by 17%.

中文翻译：

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饮用水污染物浓度和出生结果

美国此前的研究发现，当污染引发监管违规时，会对健康产生负面影响。一个重要的问题是，不引发健康违规的污染水平是否会影响健康。我们利用宾夕法尼亚州的饮用水采样结果数据，研究了社区供水系统中饮用水污染对出生结果的影响。我们关注水污染对未遭受监管违规的新生儿的影响。我们最严格的规范采用了母亲固定效应，发现水污染从第 10 个百分位到第 90 个百分位（在未受到监管违规的出生中）的变化会使低出生体重增加 12%，早产增加 17%。