PSD Track 1: Session V: Assessment Tools to Measure Lead in Water

Healthy Homes Need Healthy Water: Toward a Lead in Drinking Water Assessment Tool

To minimize water as a source of lead in homes, there is an urgent need to develop tools to predict whether homes are at high risk of lead in water contamination. Publicly and widely available tools to identify high risk homes for lead in water contamination do not exist and are a critical gap in efforts to identify and eliminate childhood lead exposure. The primary goal of this project is to build such tools and help promote use in lead hazard assessments. This presentation will describe work to develop a lead in drinking water assessment tool, leveraging a high quality and comprehensive dataset from the lead in water crisis in Flint, MI, used to demonstrate a city-wide lead contamination problem. We are working to build a Flint specific water lead risk score to identify homes that had a high risk of lead-in-water contamination and then adapt and generalize the water lead risk assessment tool to be more widely applicable to other communities.

Session Presenter: David Cwiertny, PHD. University of Iowa

Characterizing and mitigating lead in private well water across 5 Illinois counties

Millions of US homes receive water from private wells, which are not required to be tested for lead (Pb)--a well-known developmental neurotoxin. In a crosssectional study conducted in three Illinois counties, we characterized distribution of water lead levels (WLLs) and corrosivity in tap water of homes with private residential wells (N=150). Lead was detected in nearly half of first-liter samples, and 3% were >15ppb, the threshold in EPA's Lead and Copper Rule that applies to municipal water systems. In the current study funded by HUD, we expand into two additional Illinois counties and conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess effectiveness and cost of several lead mitigation methods.

Session Presenter: Sarah Geiger, PhD, Univ. of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

Tile Investigation and Lead Evaluation Study (UNLV TILES)

UNLV TILES has three main objectives: (1) Characterize the lead content of commercially available tile, (2) Characterize the lead dust hazards from intact tile, and (3) Characterize the lead content of demolished tile debris. Investigation 1 will characterize the lead concentrations of new, intact, commercially available tile from home improvement stores and specialty tile stores. Investigation 2 will determine whether the installation of tiles creates lead-dust hazards. Investigation 3 will characterize the concentration of lead present in demolished tile debris. Staff will discuss their experimental design, preliminary results, and the potential to inform relevant policies and practice.

Session Presenters: Shawn Gerstenberger, PhD and Erin Sheehy, MPH, University of Nevada, Las Vegas