Grantee Research Project Results
2021 Progress 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 Period Covered by this Report: January 1, 2021 through December 31,2021
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:
This ongoing project is the first to estimate how lead in well water affects children's developmental outcomes. In addition, it is the first to assess the association between lead in private well water and children's blood lead. The study investigates two overarching hypotheses. First, lead exposure in North Carolina (NC) households drawing their water from unregulated wells exceeds that in nearby households with regulated water supplies. Second, this increased lead exposure decreases end-of-grade test scores and increases juvenile delinquency rates among K-12 students.
This project has five main objectives: (1) Characterize the effects of reliance on private well water as the primary household water source on children's blood lead, end-of-grade test results, retention in grade, learning disabilities, and juvenile delinquency. (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. Objectives 3, 4, and 5 were completed in previous reporting periods, although peer-reviewed scientific publications based on these objectives are still in process.
Progress Summary:
In 2021, the NC Education Research Center (NCERDC) provided all available educational records for children in our study's data set. The NCERDC was able to find educational records for 37,577 of the 59,705 children in our data set.
Further analyses of the above, merged data set were conducted. These analyses demonstrated a highly significant increase in risk of encounters with the juvenile justice system, which is mediated by lead exposure, among children in houses with private well water, compared to children with community water service. A manuscript covering these analyses was published in the high-impact journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January 2022.
Children's blood samples, dust samples, and tap water samples were collected from fourteen households in Robeson County, North Carolina. Study recruitment materials were delivered to over 3,000 private well owners in four other North Carolina counties for recruitment in 2022. Additionally, study methods were altered to collect children's blood samples through a more convenient, comfortable sampling method, a Tasso-SST.
Future Activities:
Objective 1: Characterize the effects of exclusion from municipal water infrastructure on children's blood lead, end-of-grade test results, retention in grade, learning disabilities, and juvenile delinquency. We will use our newly created database showing school performance data for children to assess effects of lead exposure on their educational outcomes.
Objective 2: Characterize the relationship between lead in private well water and children's blood lead. We will continue recruitment for this part of the study in the following counties in North Carolina: Robeson: Union, Cumberland, Bladen, and Jackson. As of December 31, 2021, we had successfully completed sampling and analysis for 58 homes. We anticipate our change in blood sampling method and recruitment by mail will greatly facilitate recruitment.
Objective 3: Characterize lead sources in water in private well households with elevated lead concentrations, in order to support the development of technical interventions. This part of the work has been completed. A peer-reviewed manuscript is in process.
Objective 4: Conduct a randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention to promote testing of private well water for lead and other contaminants. This part of the work has been completed. The final results were published in the article entitled Private well testing in peri-urban African-American communities lacking access to regulated municipal drinking water: a mental models approach to risk communication, published in the journal Risk Analysis in 2021.
Objective 5: Prepare a report evaluating and comparing technical interventions to decrease lead exposure in private well water in different contexts. A quantitative analysis of the benefits for children's health of decreasing lead exposure among Wake County, NC, children relying on private wells by (a) extending municipal water service, (b) providing water filters, (c) advising residents to flush their water taps before consumption, or (d) providing bottled water was completed as part of a master's thesis by Sarah Colley. A peer-reviewed article based on this work is scheduled to be written.
Journal Articles on this Report : 3 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 32 publications | 10 publications in selected types | All 10 journal articles |
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Gibson J, MacDonald J, Fisher M, Chen X, Pawlick A, Cook P. Early life lead exposure from private well water increases juvenile delinquency risk among teens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2022;119(6):e2110694119. |
R839279 (2020) R839279 (2021) |
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Mulhern R, Roostaei J, Schwetschenau S, Pruthi T, Campbell C, Gibson JM. A new approach to a legacy concern:evaluating machine-learned Bayesian networks to predict childhood lead exposure risk from community water systems. Environmental Research 2022;204:112146. |
R839279 (2021) |
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MacDonald Gibson J, Iii FS, Wood E, Lockhart S, Bruine de Bruin W. Private well testing in peri‐urban African‐American communities lacking access to regulated municipal drinking water:a mental models approach to risk communication. Risk Analysis 2022;42(4):799-817. |
R839279 (2021) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
Water lead, blood lead, private well, child healthRelevant Websites:
Recruitment website and participant information Exit
Protect your child from lead! (Youtube) Exit
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.