Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Building Water Infrastructure to Improve Childhood Outcomes: Interventions to Decrease Childhood Lead Exposure from Private Wells
EPA Grant Number: R839279Title: Building Water Infrastructure to Improve Childhood Outcomes: Interventions to Decrease Childhood Lead Exposure from Private Wells
Investigators: MacDonald Gibson, Jacqueline , Levine, Keith , MacDonald, John M , Cook, Phillip J , de Bruin, Wandi Bruine , Fisher, Michael
Institution: Duke University , Indiana University , University of Pennsylvania , University of Leeds , Research Triangle Institute
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020 (Extended to December 31, 2022)
Project Amount: $800,000
RFA: Using a Total Environment Framework (Built, Natural, Social Environments) to Assess Life-long Health Effects of Chemical Exposures (2017) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Human Health
Objective:
While the Flint water crisis highlighted lead (Pb) exposure risks in poorly managed municipal water supplies, little is known about Pb in unregulated private wells. This project estimated effects of Pb in private well water on children's blood Pb and behavioral outcomes, focusing especially on low-income, minority communities located close to municipal water systems but not connected to those systems. The interacting influences of the built (availability of regulated water service), natural (groundwater chemistry), and social (household and school settings) environments on lead exposure and children's outcomes were assessed. In addition, behavioral and technical interventions were evaluated.
The project had five specific aims:
(1) Characterize the effects of reliance on private well water as the primary household water source on children's blood lead, juvenile delinquency risks, and educational outcomes.
(2) Characterize the relationship between lead in private well water and children's blood lead.
(3) Characterize lead sources in water in private well households with elevated lead concentrations, in order to support the development of technical interventions.
(4) Conduct a randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention to promote testing of private well water for lead and other contaminants.
(5) Prepare a report evaluating and comparing technical interventions to decrease lead exposure in private well water in different contexts.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Overall, the research conducted in this project found that children relying on private well water are at higher risk from Pb exposure, compared to children served by regulated community water systems. These exposure risks are compounded in African American communities in peri-urban areas, potentially due to increased risk of Pb exposure from sources other than water. Children exposed early in life to Pb in private well water are at increased risk for juvenile delinquency as teenagers. Corrosion of brass fittings and fixtures was the main source of Pb in drinking water in homes assessed in this study. Also, most households surveyed in this research had never tested their water for Pb, and residents were unaware of the risks. A behavioral intervention (a mail-out post card to promote water testing) was effective in promoting well water testing but only when paired with an offer of a free water test. The combination of the post card and free test offer was more effective in promoting water testing than the free alone. Pb concentrations in private well water decreased by 70%, on average, in a longitudinal study of homes that switched from private well water to a municipal water system.
Conclusions:
Specific Aim 1: Effects of reliance on private well water on children's blood lead, juvenile delinquency risks, and educational outcomes.
- A publicly available, curated (de-identified) database1 linking data on blood Pb for 59,483 children to information about their source of drinking water, other sources of Pb exposure, and demographic information about the communities where they live.
- For 13,580 children in the above database (those who reached at least age 14 by the end of the data collection period), a publicly available, curated, deidentified database linking blood Pb, water source, other environmental, and demographic data to juvenile justice reports.2
- Successful petition of an African American community (the Irongate neighborhood in Apex, NC) to connect to the water supply of the adjacent town, based in part on findings of this research, alleviating decades of inadequate water flow and poor water quality.
Specific Aim 2: Relationship between measured Pb in private well water and blood Pb.
- Database of measured Pb levels in samples of tap water, dust, and blood of 131 residents of homes relying in private well water (this database is still being analyzed for final publication, and a de-identified version will be made publicly available in the future).
Specific Aim 3: Pb sources in private well households with elevated Pb.
- Database of experiments in 18 households in which "flushing" experiments were conducted to diagnose sources of Pb in kitchen tap water (database is being analyzed for final publication; a de-identified version will be made publicly available in the future).
Specific Aim 4: Conduct a randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention to promote testing of private well water for lead and other contaminants.
- New knowledge about the potential for risk communication interventions to promote testing of private well water for blood Pb
Specific Aim 5: Effectiveness of interventions in decreasing Pb exposure in households relying on private well water
- Technical articles were generated as a result of all of the previous objectives.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 32 publications | 10 publications in selected types | All 10 journal articles |
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Type | Citation | ||
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Gibson J, Desclos A, Harrington J, Mcelmurry S, Mulhern R. Effect of Community Water Service on Lead in Drinking Water in an Environmental Justice Community. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024;58(3):1441-1451. |
R839279 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
1. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/25638 2. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/27027Relevant Websites:
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.
Project Research Results
- 2021 Progress Report
- 2020 Progress Report
- 2019 Progress Report
- 2018 Progress Report
- Original Abstract
10 journal articles for this project