210 Environmental Geochemistry and Health

We invite presentations on the environmental fate of contaminants and their impact on human and environmental health. Transdisciplinary contributions are encouraged, especially those examining the rock-soil-water-human nexus at all scales with strong public outreach or societal impact.

Tuesday, 21 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 302A

Assessing Controls on Drinking Water Quality Violations in Community Water Systems in the United States

Paper number: 210-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:35 PM – 1:55 PM

Authors

Abstract

About one in ten people in the United States are exposed to a health-based violation of drinking water quality. The objective of our analysis was to assess the environmental, operational, and sociodemographic drivers of spatiotemporal variability in drinking water quality violations using geospatial analysis and data analytics. We used random forest modeling to evaluate the drivers of violations, including environmental (e.g., climate, land cover, geology), operational (e.g., system size and water source), and sociodemographic (rurality, social vulnerability) drivers. Results of random forest modeling demonstrate that the dominant drivers of violations vary with violation type. For example, arsenic and radionuclide violations occur primarily in the Southwest and Southcentral United States related to the semiarid climate, whereas violations of the disinfection byproduct rule occur mostly in Southcentral United States linked to system operations. Community water systems with health-based violations are found mostly in small systems in rural and suburban settings. HB violations disproportionately affect socially vulnerable communities, with ∼70% of such systems characterized by high social vulnerability. High risks of water quality violations in high socially vulnerable communities are attributed in part to violations related to pervasive, naturally occurring contaminants (e.g. arsenic) that require treatment and the difficulties for small systems in deploying and maintaining treatment systems. In addition, recurrence of any health-based violation is also related to social vulnerability (R = 0.73). Understanding the drivers of water quality violations and linkages to sociodemographic factors can help optimize approaches to address these violations and increase system compliance, particularly small systems in rural areas across the United States.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412527

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