"The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS), with support from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), is conducting an epidemiologic study of childhood cancers in Dover Township, Ocean County, New Jersey... To assist the epidemiologic efforts, ATSDR developed work plan to reconstruct historical characteristics of the water-distribution system serving the Dover Township area by using water-distribution system modeling techniques.... To test the reliability of model simulations, water-distribution system data specific to the Dover Township area were needed to compare with model results. Lacking such data, a field-data collection effort was initiated to obtain pressure measurements, storage-tank water levels, and system operation schedules (the on-and-off cycling of wells and pumps) during winter-demand (March 1998) and peak demand (August 1998) operating conditions. Using these data, the water-distribution system model was calibrated to present-day (1998) conditions. ATSDR released a report and a technical paper in June 2000 describing the field-data collection activities and model calibration results. Having established the reliability of the model and the modeling approach, the model was used to examine (or reconstruct) plausible historical characteristics of the water-distribution system. For this purpose, monthly simulations were conducted from January 1962 through December 1996 to estimate the proportionate contribution of water from points of entry (well or well fields) to various locations throughout the Dover Township area."

by Morris L. Maslia, Jason B. Sautner, Mustafa M. Aral, Richard E. Gillig, Juan J. Reyes, and Robert C. Williams.

Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection