Grantee Research Project Results
Building Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in Alaska Native Communities by Reducing Health Risks from Water Infrastructure, Quality, and Security
EPA Grant Number: R840482Title: Building Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in Alaska Native Communities by Reducing Health Risks from Water Infrastructure, Quality, and Security
Investigators: Poleacovschi, Cristina , Sela, Polina , Ikuma, Kaoru , Weems, Carl , Hill, Christina Gish , Feinstein, Scott
Current Investigators: Poleacovschi, Cristina , Ikuma, Kaoru , Weems, Carl , Sela, Polina , Hill, Christina Gish , Feinstein, Scott
Institution: Iowa State University , The University of Texas at Austin
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: September 1, 2022 through May 10, 2025
Project Amount: $1,350,000
RFA: Cumulative Health Impacts at the Intersection of Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Vulnerable Populations/Lifestages: Community-Based Research for Solutions (2021) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Endocrine Disruptors , Environmental Justice , Human Health , Watersheds
Objective:
This study plans to assess the relationships between diverse climate-induced concerns related to water infrastructure and water quality and its effects on health in Alaska Native communities. Importantly, the project also aims at building adaptive capacity to climate change risks by addressing the issues of water infrastructure in Alaska Native communities. We hypothesize that climate change affects local water infrastructure (e.g. pipe leaks and breaks), which leads to poor water quality and water insecurity. Water quality, water insecurity and local vulnerabilities will directly affect health outcomes of Indigenous people. In a holistic manner, this project captures health outcomes based on health indicators and biomarkers, mental health indicators and non-Western perspective of health outcomes. The three-year project will specifically propose achieving the following objectives: Identify the effects of climate change on water infrastructure, quality and insecurity (Objective 1); Identify the cumulative effects of water quality, water insecurity and local vulnerabilities on health (Objective 2); Build adaptive capacity to climate change through community-based adaptation (Objective 3).
Approach:
The methodological approaches to achieve the three objectives will include: 1) conduct community-based monitoring (CBM) and direct sampling to assess water quality; 2) gather surveys and interviews and photovoice submissions to capture water insecurity and local vulnerabilities; 3) assess the cumulative effects of water quality, water insecurity, and local vulnerabilities on health, mental health and non-Western perspective of health using statistical analyses and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis; 4) build quantitative tools to model the water infrastructure and conduct data-driven and model-based approaches for detecting and localizing the leaks.
Expected Results:
This project will achieve a combination of scientific and practical results including: 1) Hydraulic models of the water distribution system and open-source data-driven algorithms and codes for leak detection and localization; 2) Maps of the most vulnerable households at risk of water quality and insecurity; 3) Comprehensive models showing the factors that are the most significant in determining health, mental health and non-Western health outcomes. These results will outline the list of interventions and preventions for improving health in Alaska Native communities. As a result, we expect that this project will build capacity to climate change though data that can be used for advocacy and a more resilience water infrastructure in Alaska Native communities.
Publications and Presentations:
Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
water quality, water insecurity, Alaska Native, modeling, community-based monitoringProgress and Final Reports:
The 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.