Hurricanes and resulting flooding can negatively impact drinking water supplies and services. These impacts include everything from service disruptions to contamination by microbial and chemical pollutants. Hurricane Florence resulted in extensive flooding in areas of North Carolina with high densities of hog and poultry farms, resulting in the release of human and animal excreta and associated pathogens to the environment. These releases have the potential to contaminate nearby community drinking water systems and private wells, but the extent and duration of these impacts are not well understood. The objective of this project is to assess the extent of pathogen releases resulting from Hurricane Florence in areas of North Carolina with high densities of farms and septic systems. The broader goals of this research are to engage local residents in the monitoring water systems in impacted areas through a citizen science approach, and produce recommendations to identify and address vulnerabilities of water systems and animal agricultural operations to help improve infrastructure decision-making for extreme weather events.
Hurricanes and other extreme weather events can impair the safety and continuity of drinking water services, with associated adverse health outcomes. Hurricane Florence severely impacted North Carolina counties with high densities of hog and poultry farms, as well as of private wells and septic systems, resulting in the release of human and animal excreta (and associated pathogens) to the environment, with the potential to infiltrate and contaminate nearby community drinking water systems and private wells. Increased occurrence of drinking water contamination and disease outbreaks has been observed following previous hurricanes, but the extent, duration, and determinants of such contamination and outbreak events are not well understood. We propose to assess the extent and persistence of multiple pathogens of health concern in different types of water supplies in impacted areas. This work will elucidate impacts of extreme weather events on occurrence and persistence of bacteria focusing on pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacteria or (ARBs), viruses, and protozoa in water supply networks and private wells near combined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), septic and sewage systems, and other fecal waste sources. These results will be used to produce preliminary recommendations to address identified vulnerabilities, to improve water quality and associated health outcomes for populations in disaster-prone areas to improve infrastructure and decision-making in a variety of US settings vulnerable to extreme weather events. The broader impacts of this work will also include engaging local residents in monitoring water systems in impacted areas through a citizen science approach, informing community members of risks associated with impacted public and private water systems through communication of the results of this work, and contributing recommendations for enhancing the resilience of public and private water systems to community members, utilities, health departments and agribusinesses in impacted areas.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
