Individual water systems, most common in rural areas and used by at least 15% of the US population, are a growing health threat. Rural communities face greater risk of contaminated drinking water from sources that include agricultural chemicals and farm animals, but little is known about the extent of the risk or potential approaches to reduce the risk. Rural Hawaii County (also known as the “Big Island”) is dependent on unregulated individual water systems (e.g., rainwater catchment and wells) and also has the highest rate of cesspool use in Hawaii, a known risk to nearby individual water systems. This project seeks to improve the safety of rural drinking water by piloting advanced testing methods to screen residential samples across the Big Island. Environmental, health, and data scientists at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, located on the Big Island, will engage community partners in the pilot research process to identify potential risks from these individual drinking water systems and to make plans for more extensive research. These advancements will help rural communities across the US and around the world improve the safety of their drinking water.

Big Island Drink Smart (BIDS) proposes pilot data collection to identify potential risks in residential drinking water across rural Hawaii County, focusing on unregulated individual water systems (e.g., rainwater catchment and wells). The long-term objective of BIDS is to reduce risk from drinking water on the Big Island through development of new consumer-friendly and cost-effective smart technologies that support risk assessment and decision-making. In collaboration with community partners, an island-wide survey of water system practices, smart technology use and attitudes, and community culture will be conducted. Additionally, drinking water from 20 households from areas suspected to be at higher risk will be sampled and tested for standard drinking water parameters, e.g., fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and nitrates, for presence of locally important pathogens (e.g., the parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis), and for chemical contaminants using novel suspect screening and non-targeted analysis methods developed by EPA researchers. Information regarding the location of each residence, along with water system type and maintenance will also be documented. UH Hilo faculty experts in spatial data analysis, computational chemistry, statistics, and artificial intelligence will use the pilot data to plan more rigorous sampling methods and analyses for the integrative research grant proposal. The project will make significant scientific contributions in the identification of biological and chemical risks in drinking water in this rural, tropical community. BIDS will also expand opportunities for students to engage in locally relevant problems of science, a recommended approach to inspiring rural youth into STEM education and careers.