Winter 2025
Rebuilding the Nation’s Drinking Water Infrastructure - Where are the Lead Pipes and What Comes Next?
Instructors:
- Dr. Katya Cherukumilli
- Stephanie Hung (HCDE PhD student)
After the Flint water crisis, the U.S. EPA passed landmark federal regulation in 2021 called the “Lead and Copper Rule Revisions”, which established new requirements to protect people from lead exposure through drinking water. One requirement is for all community water systems to replace any lead service lines with an alternative material (such as copper, plastic, or galvanized steel) within the next 10 years! However, there is growing concern that these alternative materials may also contaminate future water supplies and pose a threat to human and ecosystem health.
The purpose of this Winter 2025 DRG is to gather, synthesize, and vizualize data from lead service line inventories submitted by community water systems to gain a snapshot of the plumbing materials being used across the United States. In particular, this collaborative work will help shed light on the following reserach questions: (1) Which regions across the U.S. are currently using lead (versus other materials such as plastic, galvanized steel, or copper) to transport water from water treatment plants to communities, households, and institutions? (2) Is there evidence that certain utilities are prioritizng plastic as the alternative material for service lines due to its low cost? and (3) Which regions are at higher risk of damage to their water infrastructure due to climate disturbances such as wildfires and other extreme weather events?
Enrollment information
- Meeting time: Exact meeting time will be jointly decided later on based on group availability.
- Credits: 2 credits recommended (equivalent to 2 hours of in-person DRG class meetings and 4 hours of additional work per week).
- Who should apply: We are primarily recruiting upper-level undergraduates (juniors and seniors) and graduate students (M.S. or Ph.D) to participate in this DRG.
- Desired skills include data visualization, data mining/aggregation, database management, and/or building online dashboards for science communication.
- Desired interests include environmental and public health, federal policy/regulations, public infrastructure, and/or water equity
- This DRG counts toward the directed research requirement for PhD students.
- To apply: Complete this Google Form by midnight on December 5, 2024.
- Anticipated notification date: December 15, 2024
- Questions? Email Katya Cherukumilli (katyach@uw.edu) and Stephanie Hung (sshung@uw.edu)