Drinking water residence time in distribution networks and emergency department visits for gastrointestinal illness in Metro Atlanta, Georgia

We examined whether the average water residence time, the time it takes water to travel from the treatment plant to the user, for a zip code was related to the proportion of emergency department (ED) visits for gastrointestinal (GI) illness among residents of that zip code. Individual-level ED data were collected from all hospitals located in the five-county metro Atlanta area from 1993 to 2004. Two of the largest water utilities in the area, together serving 1.7 million people, were considered. People served by these utilities had almost three million total ED visits, 164,937 of them for GI illness. The relationship between water residence time and risk for GI illness was assessed using logistic regression, controlling for potential confounding factors, including patient age and markers of socioeconomic status (SES). We observed a modestly increased risk for GI illness for residents of zip codes with the longest water residence times compared to intermediate residence times (odds ratio (OR) for Utility 1 = 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.03, 1.10; OR for Utility 2 = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.08). The results suggest that drinking water contamination in the distribution system may contribute to the burden of endemic GI illness

Drinking water turbidity and emergency department visits for gastrointestinal illness in Atlanta, 1993–2004

The extent to which drinking water turbidity measurements indicate the risk of gastrointestinal illness is not well-understood. Despite major advances in drinking water treatment and delivery, infectious disease can still be transmitted through drinking water in the U.S., and it is important to have reliable indicators of microbial water quality to inform public health decisions. The objective of our study was to assess the relationship between gastrointestinal illness, quantified through emergency department visits, and drinking water quality, quantified as raw water and filtered water turbidity measured at the treatment plant

Modeling and Analysis of Deep Bed Filtration

Issued as final repor

Experiments and modeling of mixing for coagulation and cryptosporidium inactivation

Issued as final repor

Field Transport of Cryptosporidium Surrogate in a Grazed Catchment

Issued as final repor

Optimum backwash of dual media filters and granular activated carbon filter adsorbers with air scour

Issued as Work progress report, Quarterly reports, nos. 1-3, Report, and Final report, Project no. E-20-692Final report has title: Optimum backwash of dual media filters and granular activated carbon filter adsorbers with air scou

Evaluation of a new filter for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment

Issued as Final report, Project no. E-20-61

Disinfection by-product analysis and modeling in the Gwinnett County, Georgia water distribution system

Issued as final repor