Grantee Research Project Results
2013 Progress Report: Point Of Use (POU) Water Treatment Systems For Improving Sustainability And Environmental Justice in Colonias of the Paso del Norte Region
EPA Grant Number: R835179Title: Point Of Use (POU) Water Treatment Systems For Improving Sustainability And Environmental Justice in Colonias of the Paso del Norte Region
Investigators: Walker, W. Shane , Palacios, Rebecca L. , Santiago, Ivonne , Tomaka, Joe , Walton, John
Institution: The University of Texas at El Paso , New Mexico State University - Main Campus
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Project Period: December 1, 2011 through November 30, 2016
Project Period Covered by this Report: December 1, 2012 through November 30,2013
Project Amount: $498,906
RFA: Research and Demonstration of Innovative Drinking Water Treatment Technologies in Small Systems (2011) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Drinking Water , Water
Objective:
The objectives of this project are to: perform community-based participatory research (CBPR) through Water and point of use (POU) Perception and Use Inventory surveys of residents in up to 12 colonias of the Paso del Norte region; design and test POU systems for specific water contaminants of these colonias; implement select POU systems in more than 100 homes across at least three colonias; and evaluate the sustainability of the use of POU technologies with respect to environmental, social/user, and economic metrics.
Progress Summary:
Phase 1 – Colonia Selection and Engagement - Completed
Task 1 - IRB and QAPP Approvals: Completed (included in previous report)
Task 2 - Selection of Colonias for Engagement: Completed (included in previous report)
Task 3 - Focus Group Surveys and Discussions: Completed
This study examined colonia residents’ perceptions and concerns regarding water quality in their home.
Methods. Promotoras recruited participants who relied exclusively on hauled or well water. Forty-seven colonia residents participated across five focus groups, two in El Paso County, TX and three in Doña Ana County, NM. A survey assessed demographics, water source characteristics, and access to potable water. Focus group questions assessed residents’ perceived water quality, concerns for domestic use, current water treatment practices, and preferred filtration systems.
Results. Water quality concerns were reported by both El Paso and Doña Ana colonia residents; the former referred to hauled water stored in household water tanks (e.g., 2,000-3,000 gallons), while the latter referred to well water. Overall, impoverished colonia residents spend a great deal of their time and limited income purchasing additional drinking water filter and appliance/pump replacements. Of the three styles of water treatment presented (bucket, pitcher, and under-sink), the majority of the focus group participants expressed clear preference for under-sink, in-line filtration. Another major discovery was that the residents reported significant health impacts associated with water quality for hygiene (i.e., skin rashes and hair and scalp irritation associated with showering). They also revealed a strong need for health education on water safety and proper water treatment procedures. (An abstract of this portion of the research has been accepted for presentation at the Society of Behavioral Medicine meeting in Philadelphia in April 2014.)
Phase 2 – POU Screening
Task 1 - POU Review and Selection: Completed
A thorough review and comparison of available point-of-use products and technologies was performed. From the focus group studies, the clear preference of the residents (for social sustainability) was for in-line (under-the-sink) treatment. The EPA 815-R06-010 guidance for POU and point of entry (POE) drinking water treatment explicitly requires National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) International certification, which severely limits the number of qualifying products and technologies (presumably due to the significant expense associated with acquiring NSF certification). Thus, the most cost-effective, under-sink drinking water purifier with NSF certification was observed to be the Whirlpool WHEMB40 (sold locally for approximately $200). For colonia residents with TDS concentrations exceeding 1000 mg/L, an reverse osmosis (RO) filter may also be necessary.
Task 2 - Water Sampling and Quality Analysis: Ongoing
Focus group participants who provided their contact information were contacted to request permission to sample water from their home.
Methods. Two water samples were taken from the kitchen faucet of each household: one for physical-chemical analyses and one for microbiological analyses. Temperature, pH, conductivity, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), and free chlorine were measured on site. Subsequently, total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, major ions, and metals concentrations were measured in the UTEP water quality laboratory. Microbiological samples were analyzed for total coliforms and E. coli.
Results. Of the first 17 water samples, four were hauled-water, and 13 were private wells. All samples had near-neutral pH (7-8). The average conductivity of the hauled water and well water was 864 μS/cm and 2051 μS/cm, respectively. Of the four tank samples, chlorine residuals greater than 0.4 mg/L were observed in all four samples, and none tested positive for total coliforms or E. coli. Five of the 13 well water samples tested positive for coliforms, with only one also positive for E. coli.
Task 3 - Laboratory Testing of POU Treatment Systems: Ongoing
A laboratory system has been created to simulate the hauled water scenarios using a 1,500 gallon tank with tap water and inoculating it with water from the Rio Grande. Tests will be performed with various experimental POU and POE systems to compare with POUs implemented in Phase 3. (An abstract on water quality and laboratory POU testing has been accepted for poster presentation at the AWWA ACE 2014 conference in Boston in June.)
Future Activities:
We are beginning to engage individual homes in the implementation phase (Phase 3) of this study, and we are finalizing the assessments for the evaluation phase (Phase 4).
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 10 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
drinking water, small systems, colonias, hauled water, groundwater, point of use treatment, membrane filtration, POU treatment;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.