Programs that Protect Americans' Health from Unsafe Water
In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located at 2500 Century Pkwy NE, Atlanta, GA 30345 started the Safe Water program to improve the country’s access to safe drinking water. Their goal is to provide safe drinking water in communities across the country by identifying hazards and inspecting public water sources such as waterparks, public swimming pools, and wastewater systems. They have also made it their mission to respond to and prevent Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks and address drinking water system problems. In 2019, they helped 37 states improve their Legionnaires’ disease prevention and outbreak response (CDC, 2022). The CDC program has enhanced case surveillance and reporting of Legionnaires’ disease and improved environmental assessment and response. Holsinger et al. (2022) describes the increase in Legionnaires’ disease cases and how the disease often goes underdiagnosed due to its similarities to other bacterial infections. This program is important as Legionnaires’ disease increases, and monitoring large, chlorinated surface water systems will be crucial in reducing cases. The program also works towards safe water by reducing water exposures. From 2015-2020, the Safe Water program helped 19 states and local communities to address private drinking water system problems such as private wells, cisterns, storage tanks, and trucked water. This allows these states and communities to have the resources to assess and manage the risk that private drinking water systems pose and reduce these people’s exposure to hazardous substances in water. Private wells are a huge issue as 1 in 8 Americans get their water from private wells, and 1 in 5 sampled private well water was contaminated and at levels dangerous for their health (CDC, 2022). Residents who get their water from private wells must monitor and assess them often, as private well samples have found arsenic levels over the max value of 10 μg/L (Greco et al., 2019). The article also found the dangers of arsenic leading to an increased risk of many cancers and ischemic heart disease. The Safe Water program protects these residents and educates them about the dangers of private wells. If changes were made to the Safe Drinking Water Act, it would allow EPA to regulate private drinking systems and protect millions of Americans’ health. The infographic below depicts the preventative approaches the program has undertaken and its impact.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality located at 12100 Park Thirty Five Cir, Austin, TX 78753 started the Public Water Supply Supervision (PWSS) Program in 2003 to protect human health and get water systems to comply quickly with standards. The program performs outreach and educational activities on water regulations. It also prevents chemicals from becoming too dangerous for human health by compliance monitoring and compliance determination of chemical and microbiological standards. Their goal is to have safe drinking water for the residents of Texas by monitoring public water systems (PWS) in Texas and ensuring that they follow regulations. The program performs sanitary surveys and assesses water source vulnerabilities. The program has been successful as the number of public water systems that follow regulations has increased since 2014. In 2014, 77% of the 6,936 PWSs in Texas complied with the regulations (TCEQ, 2015). While in 2021, 96% of the 7,108 PWS in the State of Texas followed the standards set by the EPA (TCEQ, 2022). There is still work to be done on the public water systems. Changing the Safe Drinking Water Act to invest more in water infrastructure and give the EPA more oversight and control over standards and regulations would allow inequalities that minorities and small rural water systems face (Patel et al., 2020). This would allow programs such as the PWSS program to support small and rural PWS and enforce the regulations more thoroughly. The infographic below visualizes the information over the program and the response efforts the program has taken to protect Texans' health from unsafe water.
Discussion Prompt: What other ways can programs protect residents from unsafe water? Do you know any interventions or strategies that can be implemented?
References:
CDC. (2022). Safe Water Program.
About the Safe Water Program | EHS | CDC
Greco, S. L., Belova, A., Haskell, J., & Backer, L. (2019). Estimated burden of disease from arsenic in drinking water supplied by domestic wells in the United States. Journal of Water & Health, 17(5), 801–812. https://doi-org.proxy.tamuc.edu/10.2166/wh.2019.216
Holsinger, H., Tucker, N., Regli, S., Studer, K., Roberts, V. A., Collier, S., Hannapel, E., Edens, C., Yoder, J. S., & Rotert, K. (2022). Characterization of reported legionellosis outbreaks associated with buildings served by public drinking water systems: United States, 2001-2017. Journal of Water & Health, 20(4), 702–711. https://doi-org.proxy.tamuc.edu/10.2166/wh.2022.002
Patel, A. I., Hecht, C. E., Cradock, A., Edwards, M. A., & Ritchie, L. D. (2020). Drinking Water in the United States: Implications of Water Safety, Access, and Consumption. Annual Review of Nutrition, 40, 345–373. https://doi-org.proxy.tamuc.edu/10.1146/annurev-nutr-122319-035707
TCEQ. (2015). Texas Public Drinking Water Annual Compliance Report 2014. https://www.tceq.texas.gov/downloads/drinking-water/epa-acr-2014.pdf
TCEQ. (2022). Public Drinking Water Program 2021 Annual Compliance Report. https://www.tceq.texas.gov/downloads/drinking-water/epa-acr-2021.pdf
Hello Victoria,
ReplyDeleteIt is crucial the presence of national entities in charge of overseeing the quality of the water to reassure clean and safe water for every person that lives in the United States. However, not everything can be done alone, so it is essential to have institutions at a state and local level to support these national entities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a prestigious national entity that has the power to bring attention and resources to all the small entities facing the problem firsthand.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Austin has a very important job because all the offices in Texas can come together to analyze the current state's environmental status and report to agencies like CDC to get the national support and resources needed. In addition, the Public Water Supply Supervision (PWSS) Program has an important job here in Texas, especially now that the state is going through droughts. It is highly needed to monitor the current water available since our state is in high need of that water, and if something happens, it will cause a severe disaster.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge about this important topic. Very well done!
CDC and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) developed the Safe Water System (SWS), which protects communities from contaminated water by promoting behavior change and providing affordable and sustainable solutions. Also, UNICEF works in over 100 countries to help provide access to clean water and reliable sanitation, and to promote basic hygiene practices in rural and urban areas. cholera epidemics require the same interventions used to prevent and control diarrhea diseases. The first responders to an outbreak will generally employ activities such as water trucking of chlorinated water, chlorinating individual water containers or distribution of products for household water treatment.
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