Thousands of communities across the nation are exposed to health risks from contaminated drinking water. Upstream anthropogenic land covers have been linked with the degradation of source drinking water quality and likely pose a threat to a community water system's (CWS's) ability to provide safe drinking water. The goal of this study was to predict the differences in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) between CWSs based on their upstream land cover, economic situation, and system characteristics. In Central Appalachia, from 2001 to 2016, proportions of land cover in each target CWS's upstream source water watershed were weighted based on their distance to a CWS's source water intake. Violations to the SDWA at respective CWSs over the same period were modeled with their distance weighted land cover proportions, economic status of the county served, and system characteristics as covariates. The major findings were that increases in low intensity development increased the likelihood of a health-based violation, larger CWSs were less likely than smaller CWSs to obtain a monitoring and reporting violation, and CWSs that distributed purchased water were the least likely to incur either violation type. These results suggest that communities that have CWSs that are repeatedly failing to remain in compliance with the SDWA may be able to reduce public health risks associated with drinking water by purchasing from a larger CWS. Further to protect public health, community managers should consider source water protection and/or upgrading a CWS's treatment capacity prior to developing a previously undeveloped area. / Master of Science / Millions of people across the nation face health risks from contaminated drinking water. Understanding what factors influence a community water system's ability to supply safe drinking water is critical in the effort to protect public health. Land cover altered by humans has been found to pollute drinking water sources and may be linked to unsafe drinking water. This study aims to predict the differences in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) between community water systems (CWSs) based on their upstream land cover, economic situation, and system characteristics. In Central Appalachia, proportions of land cover between 2001 and 2016 were calculated for each target CWS's upstream source water watershed. Violations to the SDWA were used in a statistical analysis with land cover, economic status of the county served, and system characteristics of respective CWSs. The major findings were that increases in low intensity developed area increased the likelihood of health-based (HB) violations, larger CWSs were more likely than smaller CWSs to monitor and report their water quality, and CWSs that served purchased water were the least likely to have a HB or monitoring and reporting violation. These results suggest that purchasing drinking water from a larger CWS may allow water providers to reduce the risk to public health from unsafe drinking water. Additionally, protecting drinking source water and/or upgrading a CWS's treatment ability prior to developing a previously undeveloped area may reduce threats to drinking water safety.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/98815 |
| Date | 09 June 2020 |
| Creators | Smith, Ethan Pace |
| Contributors | Biological Systems Engineering, Krometis, Leigh-Anne H., Czuba, Jonathan A., Kolivras, Korine N. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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