Grantee Research Project Results
2018 Progress Report: Water, Our Voice to the Future: Climate change adaptation and waterborne disease prevention on the Crow Reservation
EPA Grant Number: R835594Title: Water, Our Voice to the Future: Climate change adaptation and waterborne disease prevention on the Crow Reservation
Investigators: Doyle, John , Camper, Anne
Current Investigators: Doyle, John , Eggers, Margaret J.
Institution: Little Big Horn College , Montana State University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: August 1, 2014 through July 31, 2017 (Extended to July 31, 2019)
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2017 through July 31,2018
Project Amount: $914,466
RFA: Science for Sustainable and Healthy Tribes (2013) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Tribal Environmental Health Research , Human Health
Objective:
Integrate traditional ecological and community knowledge, scientific data and climate models to produce a cohesive document that describes existing and projected local climate, hydrologic and microbial water quality changes and their impacts on resources, Crow traditions, ecosystems and community health.
- Hypothesis I: Traditional ecological and community knowledge of Tribal Elders, scientific data and modeling will effectively complement one another to produce a more comprehensive assessment of existing and projected climate, hydrologic and microbial water quality changes and their impacts on resources, Crow traditions, ecosystems and community health.
- Hypothesis II: Future climate change impacts will be profound in the Northern Plains Crow Reservation, with climate and hydrologic changes exceeding current and historical observations.
- Hypothesis III: Local microbial water quality is influenced by climate-driven spring flooding and late summer drought.
Progress Summary:
Objective 1. Research
(a) Community Interviews (Doyle, Martin, LaFrance and others)
John Doyle and Project Coordinator Christine Martin have completed 27 interviews with Crow tribal members on the impacts of climate change on local water resources, plants and animals and people's lives. These interviews have been transcribed, with help from Crow postbaccalaureate intern JoRee LaFrance. The transcripts were analyzed by Doyle, Martin, LaFrance, Eggers and longtime Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee members Sara Young and Myra Lefthand. Martin, a Crow tribal member who has a master's degree in Community Health and training and experience in qualitative research methods, led the analysis. Crow tribal members Young and Lefthand also have master's degrees (in education and social work, respectively), so are similarly versed in qualitative research.
The results were presented as part of our symposium "Students, Our Voices to the Future: Community-Engaged Research and Partnerships to Address Tribal Water and Health" at Renne Library at Montana State University during the Native Voices Celebration and Exhibition in March 2018. The results were also presented in poster format at the Tribal Environmental Health Conference held in Corvallis, Oregon in June 2018. Martin has begun work on a manuscript for peer-reviewed publication (see Results to Date below).
(b) Western Science Knowledge of Local Climate Change (Eggers, Doyle and Whitlock)
Western science data available from local weather stations and from Montana Climate District 5 were already identified and compared to results from Tribal Elder interviews (see above). The interviews and recorded data report the same trends in decreasing winter snowpack, later onset of fall, milder winters, earlier onset of spring weather, increasing severity of spring flooding, hotter summers and increasingly severe late summer wildfires. Each source also provides additional unique data (see Results to Date below).
A summary of these results was published as "Crow Climate Observations" in the Montana Climate Assessment released in September 2017 (Whitlock et al, 2017).
Currently, Doyle and Eggers are working with Whitlock and others on the next iteration of the Montana Climate Assessment, which is focused on the impacts of climate change on public environmental health. The initial issues to be addressed are health impacts from wildfire smoke and from increased summer heat. These are both issues for Big Horn County (largely coterminous with the Reservation), and data from our County will be included in this assessment.
(c) Well Water Testing (Doyle, Three Irons and Eggers)
The majority of home well water testing was completed for this project in the prior fiscal year; however, a small number of home wells are still being tested at the request of new Crow tribal participants. At the advice of collaborating geochemist Dr. Stephanie Ewing, strontium and selenium were added to our list of analytes for which we are testing. Both elements were detected in nearly all the wells tested during the 2017-2018 fiscal year, sometimes at levels of concern.
Compilation of the 2011-2013, 2015-2016 and 2017 well water data has been completed. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data on water quality, almost entirely from agricultural wells across the Reservation, has been added to our GIS and will be incorporated into these analyses as appropriate. The initial analyses were presented at the Tribal Environmental Health Conference in Corvallis, Oregon, in late June 2018. Additional analyses are planned for this coming fiscal year.
A cumulative risk assessment was completed on the 2011-2013 well water data, and an article was subsequently published in thevInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) in 2018 (Eggers et al., 2018). IJERPH published the article as a feature paper in its special issue Achieving Environmental Health Equity: Great Expectations. To date, it has been viewed more than 1,400 times and downloaded by more than 1,000 people. These results have also been presented at national and regional conferences during this past fiscal year (see presentations list).
A second article, led by Doyle and Eggers, was published later in 2018 (Doyle et al., 2018). To date, it has been viewed by more than 1,000 people and downloaded more than 990 times. Doyle presented this in poster format at a symposium in Bozeman in 2018.
The microbial home well water data are being analyzed and presented by Crow graduate student Emery Three Irons, who interned with us to collect these data in January through July 2017, supported in part by other funding. He has presented on this work at four different conferences this past fiscal year, including at the national American Indian Science and Engineering Society conference. Three Irons is on track to complete his master's degree in Land Resources and Environmental Science in March or April 2019. As he has been entirely supported by other funding since fall 2017 (NIEHS NIH Minority Supplement), his conference presentations are not listed here.
(d) Research Impacts of Climate Change on Microbial River Water Quality (Brame, Camper)
Target Organism Partitioning
In compliance with Objective 1(c), to collect water quality data from the Little Bighorn River to include an assessment of key bacterial loads present in the river at crucial sites and monitor for indicator bacteria, all sampling was completed as of August 31, 2017 (included in previous U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] report). The decision to include only two sampling dates from fall and winter was made after analyzing previous years' data and concluding there was little variation between years and sites for fall and winter. Two years of data for these collection times was considered sufficient for the monitoring of Escherichia coli and total coliforms, as well as environmental variables. Total data from the 3-year study of the Little Bighorn River from the six previously defined sites—including total and planktonic coliform and E. coli most probable numbers (MPNs), total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a, blue-green algae and discharge—were analyzed for differences between dates, sites and potential environmental factors that correlate with indicator organism abundance. Figures, tables and statistics were compiled to best describe and visualize the data collected from the surface water study, while statistically defining differences between MPNs and environmental variables. ANOVA and Tukey's HSD tests were employed to explore differences between dates, sites and conditions for each of the measured variables, where applicable. Pearson's Correlation Analysis was used to define correlations between environmental variables and indicator organism data. Regression analysis previously described has been used as a baseline for understanding the potential relationships between MPNs and environmental data. Overall trends in the data are sound, with a more detailed approach being currently utilized to understand variation in data from, for example, differences between sites for a given sampling date based on environmental variability.
Molecular Processing
In deference of Objective 1(c) to monitor for enteropathogenic E. coli in water, suspended sediments and stream bottom sediments, DNA extracted from water and stream bed sediments has been sequenced successfully at Argonne National Laboratories, as described in previous reports. Sequence data has been returned to Montana State University (MSU), where graduate student Brame is working through an analysis pipeline to detail differences in the total microbial community using Quantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology 2. Differences in the microbial community across sites, dates, microhabitats and river conditions will be explored as a function of the environmental variables. Of particular interest is the potential of total community shift across a spatial gradient as the river flows from upstream to downstream sites and magnitude in the shift across river conditions. Depending on the quality of sequence reads, the data should provide further evidence for the observations in the surface water monitoring of indicator organisms. Sequence data analysis should be completed in the coming months. As described in previous reports, host-specific fecal contamination was explored from DNA samples collected during the sampling regime following a detailed multiplex PCR approach. Through extensive PCR approaches, there appeared to be no amplification of the genes of interest for diarrheagenic E. coli in the DNA samples.
Climate Change and Microbial River Water Quality
In compliance with Objective 1(c) to obtain the response of key microbial constituents to projected changes in river water due to climate change by exposing sediment associated microbes to seasonal in situ conditions and controlled laboratory experiments, data were analyzed from the microcosm experiments previously described. These data have been finalized with proper visualizations and statistics, and are being prepared for publication.
Objective 2. Community Adaptation
(a) Well Water Testing and Outreach (Doyle, Martin, Three Irons, LaFrance and Eggers)
For those additional families who have had their well tested for the first time in 2017-2018, the project team continues to provide feedback and environmental literacy education to families. Eggers prepared a spreadsheet with results and a letter comparing and explaining testing results, along with any health risks and mitigation options. Martin sent these to families, and she and Doyle discussed results with families. Doyle and Martin continue to do outreach with well owners and visit with about 10 families per week regarding their well water quality and safety. Participant compensation in the form of a home water cooler was provided to those few families whose wells tested unsafe for the first time in the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
The Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee met about 10 times this fiscal year. We continue to discuss project progress, results, priorities and future plans at these meetings.
We continue to see that it is repeated contact and availability that builds trust: We have to be a resource to the community and open to discussions about water and health at any time or place we meet community members. Second, for this project to be sustainable, we have to continue to build community capacity, including Crow students, to create a network of people who will sustain one another in this ongoing work.
Doyle and Martin are seeing that participants are using the water coolers previously distributed (as compensation for their time to complete the survey and testing protocol with us). Overall, with the downturn in the local economy resulting from drastically diminished coal mining revenues, poverty is worsening across the Reservation. This is being reflected in more families with unaddressed plumbing issues, even lack of running water altogether. Improving access to safe drinking water for these rural families is even more imperative. During this fiscal year's home visits with the 100 families who participated in 2016-2017, Doyle and Martin have been and are continuing to survey them with regards to their ideas for mitigating their safe water and sanitation challenges.
(b) Student Interns (Three Irons and LaFrance)
Crow tribal member Three Irons is conducting his graduate research on factors increasing risk of microbial contamination of home well water in Crow and on how that correlates with metals contamination. This is a collaborative effort with our project, and Three Irons serves as the student representative on our project's local Steering Committee. He has presented on his research at an MSU seminar and at four different conferences in the past fiscal year. Three Irons has completed his analyses and is writing his dissertation, with a graduation target date of March or April 2019.
Previous intern and Crow tribal member JoRee LaFrance completed a Graduate Education for Minorities summer internship in Chicago during summer 2018 and will began a Ph.D. program in hydrogeology at the University of Arizona with Dr. Karletta Chief and others in September 2018. She intends to continue and expand on earlier Crow Water Quality Project research into metals in river water and sediments, downstream of existing coal seams.
(c) Other Adaptation Measures
The following climate adaptation measures were identified and described in the last annual report, and bulleted updates are provided below.
1. Eggers and Doyle have submitted a grant proposal to another funding source to be able to purchase and install sanitary (i.e., watertight) well caps for project participants with unprotected well heads. This was an objective of our original EPA grant proposal, but we understand permission to purchase well caps could not be granted through this award.
- Funding was awarded from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and wells have been measured for sanitary well caps. The only local licensed plumber willing to work in the Reservation community moved out of state, so we are working instead on developing a "Plumbing 101" intervention so that well owners can learn to do the installation (which involves wiring) themselves.
2. Survey results have demonstrated widespread interest among well owners in learning how to shock chlorinate their well. This is already a stated objective of our grant, with outreach funded in the budget.
- Because the only local licensed plumber willing to work in the Reservation community moved out of state, we are working instead on developing a "Plumbing 101" intervention so that well owners can learn shock chlorination. We also have a bilingual video (in English and Crow) that we previously created, which is available on our Facebook page.
3. The town of Crow Agency needs an alternate groundwater source for the municipal water supply. There is a deep decommissioned well in Crow Agency, which could serve as this source. Doyle has been investigating it and recently learned that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) did water quality tests on this well while it was in service.
- The well is from the 1960s, and the BIA no longer has any data on record for it. Doyle has learned that there is another well, which was drilled to 4,200 feet for oil exploration. The company found water (from the Madison formation) but no oil and capped the well before testing its water quality. This is a possibility for public drinking water for Crow Agency, including the Indian Health Service Hospital. However, a new funding source would be needed to be able to sample and test this deep a well.
4. Doyle and Eggers are looking into whether the wastewater generated by the Crow Agency treatment plant is legally available, of suitable quality and sufficiently socially acceptable to market it to local users.
- We found a water rights attorney with the requisite expertise to address this issue. She informed us that this would be legally complicated, given the language of the current Water Compact. We would need to find funding to pursue this legally before we could do anything else, so we are not pursuing it further at this time.
5. Retesting of participants' home wells was included in our grant proposal for fiscal year three to understand and communicate to tribal members how spring runoff affects metals contamination of home wells:
- Retesting of more than 115 wells has been completed and the results returned to and explained to participants. These data have been added into our spreadsheet and are pending analysis and dissemination during spring semester 2019.
6. Reinstating at least one weather station for the Reservation, located in Crow Agency, so that the Tribe has data on which to base adaptation planning. Through the American Water Resources Association, Montana Chapter, Doyle and Eggers learned that a weather station network is being developed through the Montana Climate Office (MCO), and we can purchase a weather station, including a soil moisture probe, for $3,000 plus a $500 annual maintenance fee. These stations do not need to be maintained on a daily or even weekly basis; they transmit weather data automatically, which makes them ideal for our project. By participating in their network, we would have 24/7 access to data from not only our weather station, but others in the statewide network as well.
- This funding request was approved. The weather station was installed by the MCO and went live in April 2017. As of the annual report from MCO in early June 2017, the station was functioning at 100 percent and had already collected more than 30,000 data points. In addition to re-establishing data collection on temperature, precipitation and other weather variables for the Crow Reservation, soil moisture data are being recorded for the first time. The initial annual report from MCO is available here: http://climate.umt.edu/files/170606%20Mesonet%20Progress%20Report%20June%202017.pdf. MCO has sent us the weather data through May 2018, although there is a gap of a couple of months when their communication system broke down and had to be redesigned and reinstalled.
- MCO has had technical challenges with this weather station and came to Crow Agency this past fiscal year to work with John Doyle to fix the technical issues.
Objective 3. Disseminate Project Results
Local dissemination is ongoing, as described above under Objective 2, Activities (b) and (c). National and regional presentations were made (see presentations list).
Results to Date and Significance of Work
(a) Well Water Quality Testing and Climate Change Adaptation
As 15 percent of the U.S. population, including about 50 percent of the Crow Reservation community, rely on home well water, contamination of home well water is a widespread and significant environmental public health issue (see DeSimone 2009, referenced in original proposal). If spring flooding, exacerbated by climate change, increases microbial and/or inorganic contamination of home wells, this will be a significant environmental public health impact of climate change. Initial research by the USGS in both Montana and Wyoming indicates seasonality of inorganic contaminant levels (Caldwell 2011a & b; Dam 2014), hence our concern. The results will inform public education as to what time of year homeowners should test their well water quality to detect maximum contamination levels. Impacts on the levels of anthropogenic nitrate and uranium contamination may have particular relevance to EPA's regulatory responsibilities.
Two hundred wells plus many of the springs used collectively and regularly by Crow tribal members for drinking water sources have been tested to date. One hundred of these wells in the Little Bighorn River valley were retested during May-June 2017, when there was significant snowmelt and runoff. These data have been compiled, along with earlier well water testing from 2011-2013. Collectively, about 150 wells were tested in two different years, in different seasons. Manganese, uranium, nitrate and microbial contamination continue to be the analytes most frequently exceeding EPA MCLs/Health Advisories. Low level arsenic is also a health concern, based on calculating the Hazard Index for a lifetime of exposure.
Our primary research question is whether high spring runoff is correlated with significant changes in levels of Mn, U, As, nitrate and/or coliform bacteria in home well water. Analyses to address these questions will be conducted in winter/spring 2019.
New testing in July 2017 showed for the first time that strontium and selenium are also groundwater contaminants of concern in the Bighorn River Valley, which has the highest levels of uranium in home wells.
(b) Climate Change Science
There is increasing interest nationally in what tribal environmental knowledge (both passed down through the generations and from the lived experience of today's tribal members), in combination with Western science data on and models for climate change, can contribute to our collective understanding of climate change impacts and projected effects. We are researching this through a case study: The Crow Reservation. The Crow Tribe is in a particularly strong position to conduct this research, as they still live in their original homelands; the Crow language is widely spoken; and many traditions, including subsistence hunting and gathering, continue to be practiced. MSU Bozeman is an exceptionally strong partner for this work due to the climate science expertise of the Institute on Ecosystems (on campus), the USGS expertise in Montana and regionally, as well as the innovative work being conducted by the MCO.
Climate change predictions for southcentral Montana largely continue or even accelerate changes documented in the local Western science record over the past 100 years, as well as through interviews with Crow Tribal Elders. Increased frequency of severe spring floods and water shortages/low river flows/drought and more severe wildfires in August are our primary concerns in relation to public environmental health and, hence, adaptation planning. Increasing summer heat stress is also a concern. Interviews with Tribal Elders capture additional ecosystem changes not recorded by Western science in our region, particularly with regards to plants, animals and springs, which are important subsistence and cultural resources. For instance, climate changes are already affecting the quantity and quality of wild berry resources. Further, many Elders commented on unusual and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, an observation not yet elucidated from the Western science data.
Western science data indicate a pattern of earlier and generally lower spring runoff in the Little Bighorn River, which flows through the Reservation from south to north and hosts the majority of the tribal population in the communities of Wyola, Lodge Grass and Crow Agency. This is apparently somewhat masked to the community by two recent severe spring floods, which had direct and major impacts on families.
Some of the results and conclusions from this aspect of our project were published in a four-page section of the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment, cited above. An additional, more comprehensive publication is planned for winter/spring 2019.
(c) Microbial River Water Quality
Target Organism Partitioning
In direct relation to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment, understanding the environmental drivers, spatial and temporal differences, and elevated risk periods for human contact to potentially microbially contaminated water on the Little Bighorn River is of great importance. Using data collected from surface water samples along with observations from microcosm experiments, it is probable that E. coli and potentially other harmful microorganisms survive and thrive on suspended sediment in the water column and in the riverbed sediment. These sediment-associated cells have the potential to fall out of suspension and be preserved in riverbed sediment until a disturbance event (runoff, human or animal disturbance, etc.) and become more available for human contact and subsequent possible negative health effects. Understanding when and where elevated levels of indicator organisms are present and why has been the focus of this part of the research project, as it has a direct relation to the public who utilize the water for cultural and recreational purposes, as well as the fact that the municipal water treatment plant in Crow Agency draws water from the Little Bighorn River.
As described in previous reports, data have shown trends in total coliform and E. coli concentrations across different sites and river conditions on the Little Bighorn, some of which fall well above EPA's recommended limit for recreation based on E. coli concentrations (126 cells/100 mL). These data have been and will continue to be explored in depth with emphasis on statistical analysis and using environmental variables to understand the strongest predictors or covariates of the indicator organisms studied. This data and statistical interpretation will be written in manuscript form for subsequent publication. In the previous report, a regression analysis was hypothesized for predicting indicator organism concentrations using the environmental variables studied, but after consideration and deliberation with Brame's committee members, it seems unlikely that such a simple model without including other variables not measured over the course of the study would be an accurate predictor for coliform and/or E. coli concentrations. Although there was expressive interest in these models, certain environmental variables when treated singularly have shown positive relationships with indicator organism concentrations. These specific environmental variables are easy and cheap to measure and will be disseminated to the local community, as well as the general river conditions and sites where increased concentrations were observed over the course of the study. This study also provides a unique opportunity to have a 3-year spatial and temporal scale, which will be beneficial for future research within the community in preserving water quality and understanding sources of potential contamination.
Molecular Processing
Understanding the specific organisms that have negative human health impacts is a core focus of this study. DNA was extracted from sediment associated, planktonic and riverbed sediment in an effort to determine presence/absence of several phylotypes of diarrheagenic E. coli. Unfortunately, this method proved unsuccessful in amplifying target DNA genes from extracted DNA. Although this would have been informative in relating waterborne illness to community members, surface water numbers of indicator organisms should provide information to the public for when and where risk of potentially harmful microorganisms are located throughout the river corridor. DNA has successfully been sequenced at Argonne National Laboratory and data returned to MSU for analysis. Graduate student Brame has been diligently working through the sequence data for production in manuscript form detailing the microbial community of a small-scale river, where microbial community studies have generally been focused on larger rivers. The quality of sequence reads appear to be substantial enough to provide further evidence for the surface water data and potentially reflect in a total community shift, similar to what was seen between sites and dates in surface water monitoring. Extracted DNA has been stored in a -80°C freezer for potential use on future projects.
Climate Change and Microbial River Water Quality
Water quality, quantity and availability are some of the most important subjects to face humanity as the climate continues to change, populations soar, and water bodies become depleted or polluted. This study is centrally important to the Crow community and to underrepresented communities across the globe. Understanding how potential changes to the climate might affect water quality and those pathogens found in water is crucial for preventing unnecessary illness, especially in areas where essential water treatment systems are unavailable to the public. Understanding how microorganisms, particularly those related to water quality and human health, might respond to changes in Earth's systems—be it increased flooding, intense storm events, warming temperatures, earlier runoff, or drought and lower-than-average flows—is impactful to science and future health-related impacts of climate change. Understanding the partitioning of waterborne pathogens between planktonic and sediment-associated forms in the water column allows for research to study the potential viability of these cells in a river or stream system. These insights have a direct relation to EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment, and to reduce environmental risk in the future.
Results from experiments involving enteropathogenic E. coli have shown that cells remained viable in planktonic form longer than the water retention time on the Little Bighorn River. An implication of this result is that E. coli introduced into the River have the potential to survive and travel the course of the entire river, passing through at least two frequently used swim holes and by the municipal water treatment plant intake at Crow Agency and into the Bighorn River, causing a downstream effect outside of the Crow Reservation. Results from sediment-associated microcosm experiments have shown that pathogenic cells can remain viable for much longer than those in planktonic form, leading to the thought that these organisms have the potential for resuspension and subsequent human health impacts for extended periods of time. Data collected have shown an optimal temperature for E. coli cell viability in both planktonic and sediment-associated form, with varying rates of decay for each of the experimental temperatures observed. Statistical analysis and publication figures have been produced, and results are currently being written up in manuscript form for publication. These results, coupled with surface water quality and DNA sequence data, will provide an in-depth study of microbial water quality on the Little Bighorn River and implications for water quality in the changing future.
Future Activities:
Objective 1. Research
(a) Climate Change Interviews
As noted above, the interviews have been completed and transcribed, and a qualitative analysis has been done by five Crow tribal members and Eggers. The results have been presented at several conferences this past fiscal year. Martin, our qualitative researcher on staff, will lead the work of preparing a manuscript for publication from these results.
(b) Western Science Knowledge of Local Climate Change
Eggers will compare project work to date compiling historical local climate data and the results of interviews with Tribal Elders with the climate data and modeled forecasts for our region of Montana as published in the Montana Climate Assessment.
Impacts of Spring High Water on Home Well Water Contamination
The potential impacts of increased spring flooding on home well water quality will be investigated by conducting temporal analyses of our 2011-2013, 2015-2016, 2017 and 2018 home well water data, as well as additional spatial analyses in GIS. Dr. Eggers and collaborator Dr. Joseph Hoover are taking the lead role on this.
Additionally, Eggers and Doyle have begun working with Dr. Cathy Whitlock and colleagues on the 2019 issue of the Montana Climate Assessment, which will focus on climate change impacts on individual and community health. Most of this time and effort will be separately funded but it will provide another venue for us to disseminate and publish the results of this project. The lessons being learned about how climate change impacts water resources in ways that affect water contamination and hence community health will carry over into this new endeavor.
(c) Microbial River Water Quality and Climate Change
Brame is currently completing figures and final statistical analysis for each individual research question while preparing manuscripts for publication. Initial DNA sequencing analysis is being performed with the hope to complete all analyses in the coming months. Data involving surface water indicator organisms and in lab molecular work have been checked against raw (notebook and worksheet) values and saved electronically as tabulated forms.
Objective 2. Community Adaptation
(a) Mitigation of Well Water Contamination
As a result of the impact of recent spring floods on home wells throughout much of the Reservation, as well as what we are all learning from well water testing, there has been much interest from well owners in learning how to shock chlorinate their wells. We realized we need to invest considerable time and effort to conduct outreach and training on this issue. Doyle and Martin are working during fiscal year 5 to plan a "Plumbing 101" intervention with community members to help well owners gain the necessary skills to maintain their home wells and septic systems.
(b) Outreach Work in the Crow Reservation Community
The Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee will continue to meet almost every month, and in-person outreach work in the community by Doyle and Martin continues. Martin will continue to maintain and expand the Crow Water Quality Facebook page and will explore additional venues for local outreach.
Eggers, with help from Martin, Doyle and Brame and oversight from Dr. Anne Camper, will integrate the results from these different aspects of the research into a final Project Report and will also prepare an Executive Summary for the Crow Tribe. The project's External Advisory Committee will meet again during the summer of 2019 to review these results and make decisions on community dissemination.
(c) Students
We will not have funding to host a new student intern this year, but we are continuing to work with Three Irons and LaFrance on their graduate research.
Objective 3. Disseminate Project Results
(a) Local Dissemination
As described above, Eggers and colleagues will integrate the results from these different aspects of the research into a final Project Report and will also prepare an Executive Summary for the Crow Tribe. The project's External Advisory Committee will meet again in July 2019, along with the members of the Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee and project staff (including graduate student Brame), to review these results and make decisions on community dissemination.
(b) National Dissemination
Doyle and Eggers will be giving an invited plenary session presentation, with tribal colleagues from other regions of the United States, at the annual Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference in New Orleans in fall 2018.
Doyle will present project results in a poster format at the Metals Toxicology conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in October 2018.
(c) Publications
At least three peer-reviewed publications are planned:
- Doyle and Eggers, lead authors, on temporal variation of home well water contaminants in relation to spring runoff.
- Martin and LaFrance, lead authors, a qualitative analysis of interviews with Crow Tribal Elders on climate change impacts.
- Brame will be writing his doctoral dissertation on his research.
- If warranted, the above authors, Camper and others will consider a summary manuscript that combines the above research results.
References:
Caldwell R. Technical Announcement. USGS Samples for Radioactive Constituents in Groundwater of Southwestern Montana. 2011. Available online: http://mt.water.usgs.gov/ (accessed on 7 August 2013).
Caldwell R. Uranium and Other Radioactive Elements in Jefferson County Ground Water; U.S. Geological Survey: Helena, MT, USA, 2008.
Dam W. Rising and Falling Contaminant Concentrations After Flooding at the Riverton, Wyoming Uranium Mill Tailings Site. Presented at the NGWA Groundwater Summit, Denver, CO. May 4-7, 2014.
DeSimone LA. Quality of Water from Domestic Wells in Principal Aquifers of the United States, 1991–2004; U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5227; U.S. Geological Survey: Northborough, MA, USA, 2009; p. 139.
Doyle JT, Kindness L, Realbird J, Eggers MJ, Camper AK. Challenges and Opportunities for Tribal Waters: Addressing Disparities in Safe Public Drinking Water on the Crow Reservation in Montana, USA. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15:567 (13 pp.); doi:10.3390/ijerph15040567.
Eggers MJ, Doyle JT, Lefthand MJ, Young SL, Moore-Nall AL, Kindness L, Other Medicine R, Ford TE, Dietrich E, Parker AE, Hoover JH, Camper AK. Community engaged cumulative risk assessment of exposure to inorganic well water contaminants, Crow Reservation, Montana. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15(1):76; doi:10.3390/ijerph15010076.
Whitlock C, Cross W, Maxwell B, Silverman N, Wade AA. 2017
Montana Climate Assessment. Bozeman and Missoula MT: Montana
State University and University of Montana, Montana Institute on
Ecosystems. 2017, 318 p. doi:10.15788/m2ww8w.
Journal Articles on this Report : 3 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 53 publications | 5 publications in selected types | All 4 journal articles |
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Doyle JT, Kindness L, Realbird J, Eggers MJ, Camper AK. Challenges and opportunities for tribal waters:addressing disparities in safe public drinking water on the Crow Reservation in Montana, USA. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15(4):567. |
R835594 (2018) R835594 (Final) R836157 (2018) R836157 (2019) |
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Eggers MJ, Moore-Nall AL, Doyle JT, Lefthand MJ, Young SL, Bends AL, Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee, Camper AK. Potential health risks from uranium in home well water: an investigation by the Apsaalooke (Crow) Tribal Research Group. Geosciences 2015;5(1):67-94. |
R835594 (2015) R835594 (2018) R833706 (Final) |
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Eggers MJ, Doyle JT, Lefthand MJ, Young SL, Moore-Nall AL, Kindness L, Other Medicine R, Ford TE, Dietrich E, Parker AE, Hoover JH, Camper AK. Community engaged cumulative risk assessment of exposure to inorganic well water contaminants, Crow Reservation, Montana. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15(1):76. |
R835594 (2017) R835594 (2018) R835594 (Final) R836157 (2019) |
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Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.