Challenges with secondary use of multi-source water-quality data in the United States

Source water quality is of major concern to all drinking water utilities. The accidental introduction of contaminants to their source water is a constant threat to utilities withdrawing water from navigable or industrialized rivers. The events of 11 September, 2001 in the United States have heightened concern for drinking water utility security as their source water and finished water may be targets for terrorist acts. Efforts are underway in several parts of the United States to strengthen early warning capabilities. This paper will focus on those efforts in the Ohio River Valley Basin.

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Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Disease and Molybdenum in Colorado Watersheds

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17113854 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (11) ◽

pp. 3854

Author(s):

Ettie M. Lipner ◽

Joshua French ◽

Carleton R. Bern ◽

Katherine Walton-Day ◽

David Knox ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Linear Models ◽

Disease Risk ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Quality Data ◽

Source Water ◽

Water Quality Data ◽

Unit Increase ◽

Discrete Responses ◽

Environmental Bacteria

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental bacteria that may cause chronic lung disease. Environmental factors that favor NTM growth likely increase the risk of NTM exposure within specific environments. We aimed to identify water-quality constituents (Al, As, Cd, Ca, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, K, Se, Na, Zn, and pH) associated with NTM disease across Colorado watersheds. We conducted a geospatial, ecological study, associating data from patients with NTM disease treated at National Jewish Health and water-quality data from the Water Quality Portal. Water-quality constituents associated with disease risk were identified using generalized linear models with Poisson-distributed discrete responses. We observed a highly robust association between molybdenum (Mo) in the source water and disease risk. For every 1- unit increase in the log concentration of molybdenum in the source water, disease risk increased by 17.0%. We also observed a statistically significant association between calcium (Ca) in the source water and disease risk. The risk of NTM varied by watershed and was associated with watershed-specific water-quality constituents. These findings may inform mitigation strategies to decrease the overall risk of exposure.

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Post-fire water-quality response in the western United States

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf17115 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 203 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Ashley J. Rust ◽

Terri S. Hogue ◽

Samuel Saxe ◽

John McCray

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Water Quality ◽

Stream Water ◽

Western United States ◽

Change Point Analysis ◽

Quality Data ◽

Stream Water Quality ◽

Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽

Water Quality Data ◽

Quality Response

Wildfires are increasing in size and severity in forested landscapes across the Western United States. Not only do fires alter land surfaces, but they also affect the surface water quality in downstream systems. Previous studies of individual fires have observed an increase in various forms of nutrients, ions, sediments and metals in stream water for different post-fire time periods. In this research, data were compiled for over 24 000 fires across the western United States to evaluate post-fire water-quality response. The database included millions of water-quality data points downstream of these fires, and was synthesised along with geophysical data from each burned watershed. Data from 159 fires in 153 burned watersheds were used to identify common water-quality response during the first 5 years after a fire. Within this large dataset, a subset of seven fires was examined further to identify trends in water-quality response. Change-point analysis was used to identify moments in the post-fire water-quality data where significant shifts in analyte concentrations occurred. Evaluating individual fires revealed strong initial increases or decreases in concentrations, depending on the analyte, that are masked when averaged over 5 years. Evidence from this analysis shows significant increases in nutrient flux (different forms of nitrogen and phosphorus), major-ion flux and metal concentrations are the most common changes in stream water quality within the first 5 years after fire. Dissolved constituents of ions and metals tended to decrease in concentration 5 years after fire whereas particulate matter concentration continued to increase. Assembling this unique and extensive dataset provided the opportunity to determine the most common post-fire water-quality changes in the large and diverse Western USA. Results from this study could inform studies in other parts of the world, will help parameterise and validate post-fire water-quality models, and assist communities affected by wildfire to anticipate changes to their water quality.

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Empowering Community Water Data Stakeholders

Interacting with Computers ◽

10.1093/iwcomp/iwz032 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 492-506

Author(s):

John Millar Carroll ◽

Jordan Beck ◽

Elizabeth W Boyer ◽

Shipi Dhanorkar ◽

Srishti Gupta

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Best Practices ◽

The United States ◽

Quality Data ◽

Community Informatics ◽

Water Quality Data ◽

Quality Practices ◽

Data Practices ◽

Information Infrastructures ◽

Local Water

Abstract Access to clean water is a critical challenge and opportunity for community-level collaboration. People rely on local water sources, but awareness of water quality and participation in water management is often limited. Lack of community engagement can increase risks of water catastrophes, such as those in Flint, Michigan, and Cape Town, South Africa. We investigated water quality practices in a watershed system serving c.100 000 people in the United States. We identified a range of entities including government and nonprofit citizen groups that gather water quality data. Many of these data are accessible in principle to citizens. However, the data are scattered and diverse; information infrastructures are primitive and not integrated. Water quality data and data practices are hidden in plain sight. Based on fieldwork, we consider sociotechnical courses of action, drawing on best practices in human–computer interaction and community informatics, data and environmental systems management.

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