Background: Previous analyses have suggested that unregulated private drinking water wells carry a higher risk of exposure to microbial contamination than regulated community water systems. In North Carolina, ~35% of the state’s population relies on private wells, but the health impact associated with widespread reliance on such unregulated drinking water sources is unknown.
Objectives: We estimated the total number of emergency department visits for acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) attributable to microbial contamination in private wells in North Carolina per year, the costs of those visits, and the potential health benefits of extending regulated water service to households currently relying on private wells for their drinking water.
Methods: We developed a population intervention model using 2007–2013 data from all 122 North Carolina emergency departments along with microbial contamination data for all 2,120 community water systems and for 16,138 private well water samples collected since 2008.
Results: An estimated 29,400 (95% CI: 26,600, 32,200) emergency department visits per year for acute gastrointestinal illness were attributable to microbial contamination in drinking water, constituting approximately 7.3% (95% CI: 6.6, 7.9%) of all AGI-related visits. Of these attributable cases, 99% (29,200; 95% CI: 26,500, 31,900) were associated with private well contamination. The estimated statewide annual cost of emergency department visits attributable to microbiological contamination of drinking water is 40.2 million USD (95% CI: 2.58 million USD, 193 million USD), of which 39.9 million USD (95% CI: 2.56 million USD, 192 million USD) is estimated to arise from private well contamination. An estimated 2,920 (95% CI: 2,650, 3,190) annual emergency department visits could be prevented by extending community water service to 10% of the population currently relying on private wells.
Conclusions: This research provides new evidence that extending regulated community water service to populations currently relying on private wells may decrease the population burden of acute gastrointestinal illness.
1Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA; 2Division of Environmental Health, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA; 3Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Recommended Citation:
Nicholas B. DeFelice,1 Jill E. Johnston,2,et al. Reducing Emergency Department Visits for Acute Gastrointestinal Illnesses in North Carolina (USA) by Extending Community Water Service[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2016-01-01,Volume 124(Issue 10):1583