Homeland Security Research

Research Highlights

Integration of Water Quality and Public Health Data to Improve Detection of Drinking Water Contamination

Data Project May Help Reduce Illness by Detecting Contamination Events Early

In order to develop an early warning system for an intentional or unintentional drinking water contamination event, EPA is collaborating with water utilities and public health agencies to gather, share, and analyze multiple types of data. By speeding response time through early detection of an event, water utilities and public health agencies can cooperate to minimize illness and lessen economic impact.

Project Overview

Several existing electronic public health surveillance systems monitor changes in the number of patients reporting certain types of symptoms or syndromes. When an increased number of symptoms are observed, this may indicate a disease outbreak.
The EPA collaboration is working with two nationwide computer-based Public Health Syndromic Surveillance Systems (PHSS):

• Real-Time Outbreak Disease Surveillance (RODS)
• Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE).

These public health electronic systems gather data from emergency departments that include symptoms reported by a patient, date and time of visit(s), and home zip code. No names or personal identification information are included.

Water utilities likewise keep track of data. Water quality indicators may include information about the number and variety of microorganisms, acidity of the water, level of disinfectants like chlorine or chloramines, and measurements of suspended particles. Contamination detection is challenging because water quality differs from location to location, utility sampling schedules vary, and not all quality indicators are measured by all water utilities. In addition, random fluctuations of data can obscure actual contamination events.

Statistical analysis of the integrated data is necessary to correlate water quality information with an area’s existing public health data to determine health effects that may be a result of drinking water contamination.

Expected Products

The PHSS water contamination warning project will help officials more quickly determine whether an observed disease outbreak has resulted from contaminated drinking water. In addition to testing the system and developing protocols for data transfer and analysis in several U.S. cities, the EPA collaboration is working on:

• Training personnel from participating water utilities and public health departments
• Guiding principles that can assist public health and water utility personnel in identifying a potential water contamination event
• Providing a framework for collaborate relationships between public health and water utilities.

Contact: Cynthia Yund