This project aims to achieve a nationwide study of the prevalence of opportunistic pathogens, their free-living amoebae vectors, and regulated and unregulated disinfection byproducts across a wide…

This project aims to achieve a nationwide study of the prevalence of opportunistic pathogens, their free-living amoebae vectors, and regulated and unregulated disinfection byproducts across a wide variety of sizes and types of drinking water distribution systems (dwds).activities:multi-tiered partnerships across approximately 100 drinking water distribution systems will be developed to achieve the objectives, including educational components that will be used to provide direct application of the research to other utilities. Utility partners will assist with performing one sampling event per year from 5-10 locations in their drinking water distribution systems.subrecipient:university of massachusetts ($399,691 EPA, $101,095 cost share) will take the technical lead on DBP analyses and OP/DBP risk assessment. University of michigan ($425,000 EPA, $143,080 cost share) will take the technical lead on the flushing study as well as the cocreation of learning modules based on the research findings. George washington university ($240,000 EPA, $60,000 cost share) will take the technical lead on best practices for assessing opportunistic pathogen viability. The water tower institute: ($30,000) will assist with recruiting and interacting with utility partners, work with the university of michigan team to cocreate learning modules, host one of the biostudy experiments, and host two in person meetings/workshops at their water campus.outcomes:deliverables of this project include annual progress and final reports, a survey of the pathogens and vectors in the sampled water systems, mitigation strategies, and learning modules. The project will also develop a risk framework, and a plan to communicate risks as well as guidance for a modified system flushing program. Intended beneficiaries include drinking water utilities and consumers whose drinking water comes from public drinking water distribution systems.