Juxtaposition of Intensive Agriculture, Vulnerable Aquifers, and Mixed Chemical/Microbial Exposures in Private-Well Tapwater in Northeast Iowa

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Sci Total Environ
• Personal Author:
  Bradley, Paul M. ; Kolpin, Dana W. ; Thompson, Darrin A. ; Romanok, Kristin M. ; Smalling, Kelly L. ; Breitmeyer, Sara E. ; Cardon, Mary C. ; Cwiertny, David M. ; Evans, Nicola ; Field, R. William ; Focazio, Michael J. ; Beane Freeman, Laura E. ; Givens, Carrie E. ; Gray, James L. ; Hager, Gordon L. ; Hladik, Michelle L. ; Hofmann, Jonathan N. ; Jones, Rena R. ; Kanagy, Leslie K. ; Lane, Rachael F. ; McCleskey, R. Blaine ; Medgyesi, Danielle ; Medlock-Kakaley, Elizabeth K. ; Meppelink, Shannon M. ; Meyer, Michael T. ; Stavreva, Diana A. ; Ward, Mary H.
• Description:
  In the United States and globally, contaminant exposure in unregulated private-well point-of-use tapwater (TW) is a recognized public-health data gap and an obstacle to both risk-management and homeowner decision making. To help address the lack of data on broad contaminant exposures in private-well TW from hydrologically-vulnerable (alluvial, karst) aquifers in agriculturally-intensive landscapes, samples were collected in 2018-2019 from 47 northeast Iowa farms and analyzed for 35 inorganics, 437 unique organics, 5 in vitro bioassays, and 11 microbial assays. Twenty-six inorganics and 51 organics, dominated by pesticides and related transformation products (35 herbicide-, 5 insecticide-, and 2 fungicide-related), were observed in TW. Heterotrophic bacteria detections were near ubiquitous (94 % of the samples), with detection of total coliform bacteria in 28 % of the samples and growth on at least one putative-pathogen selective media across all TW samples. Health-based hazard index screening levels were exceeded frequently in private-well TW and attributed primarily to inorganics (nitrate, uranium). Results support incorporation of residential treatment systems to protect against contaminant exposure and the need for increased monitoring of rural private-well homes. Continued assessment of unmonitored and unregulated private-supply TW is needed to model contaminant exposures and human-health risks.
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Drinking Water Environmental Monitoring Groundwater Humans Iowa United States Water Pollutants, Chemical
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Health Chlorination Household Water Treatment Human Health Inorganics Microbial Organics Private Wells Safe Water Storage Tapwater Contaminants
• Source:
  Sci Total Environ. 868:161672
• Pubmed ID:
  36657670
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9976626
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  P30 ES005605/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T42 OH008491/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; T42OH008491/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; Z01 CP010119/ImNIH/Intramural NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  868
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:dc7a36482f07a6381826d77e8c32d10b5e7a8a13ee53451c2c342d7a9a9d715f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/125392/cdc_125392_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.02 MB ]