Estimating Water Quality and Exposure Assessment Among Private Well-Owners

Abstract

Background: Among drinking water supplies, private well owners are often the most vulnerable to changing water quality due to limited well stewardship, including regular testing and appropriate use of home water filtration. Private well ownership and testing varies by region and state in the United States. In Wisconsin, approximately one-third of drinking water supplies come from surface water and the remaining two-thirds are private wells. Among these, approximately one-half are private well owners. As agricultural trends and practices have shifted, private well owners remain responsible for private well testing, thus increasing potential vulnerability to adverse exposure to environmental chemicals as well as altered gut microbial composition. Methods: Working with a collaborative set of stakeholders, and building from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin project cohort, we conducted a private well survey aimed at better understanding differences in private well testing, and barriers to testing among a randomly selected rural population in the state. In another ancillary study, we examined differences in alpha and beta diversity by drinking water source. Results: Among private well-owners, less than 10% reported testing their wells within the last year. Water treatment strategies included water softeners and barriers to testing included costs and environmental literacy. Significant differences in host microbiome were observed between private and municipal well-owners Discussion: Protecting private well owners remains a significant public health challenge. Result suggest efforts to improve environmental health literacy and reducing financial barriers are important to improve stewardship. The microbiome seems to be sensitive to drinking water source and provides a novel biomarker for future drinking water research. Keywords: Water, water quality, microbiome, environmental epidemiology