Abstract

Background:

Private wells are an important source of drinking water in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. Due to the region’s fractured dolomite aquifer, these wells are vulnerable to contamination by human and zoonotic gastrointestinal pathogens originating from land-applied cattle manure and private septic systems.

Objective:

We determined the magnitude of the health burden associated with contamination of private wells in Kewaunee County by feces-borne gastrointestinal pathogens.

Methods:

This study used data from a year-long countywide pathogen occurrence study as inputs into a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to predict the total cases of acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) caused by private well contamination in the county. Microbial source tracking was used to associate predicted cases of illness with bovine, human, or unknown fecal sources.

Results:

Results suggest that private well contamination could be responsible for as many as 301 AGI cases per year in Kewaunee County, and that 230 and 12 cases per year were associated with a bovine and human fecal source, respectively. Furthermore, Cryptosporidium parvum was predicted to cause 190 cases per year, the most out of all 8 pathogens included in the QMRA.

Discussion:

This study has important implications for land use and water resource management in Kewaunee County and informs the public health impacts of consuming drinking water produced in other similarly vulnerable hydrogeological settings. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7815

中文翻译：

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威斯康星州基沃尼县断裂白云岩含水层中受污染私人井的定量微生物风险评估

摘要

背景：

私人水井是威斯康星州基沃尼县的重要饮用水源。由于该地区的白云岩含水层破裂，这些水井很容易受到来自土地施用的牛粪和私人化粪池系统的人类和人畜共患胃肠道病原体的污染。

客观的：

我们确定了与基沃尼县私人水井被粪便传播的胃肠道病原体污染相关的健康负担的严重程度。

方法：

本研究使用来自长达一年的全县病原体发生研究的数据作为定量微生物风险评估 (QMRA) 的输入，以预测该县私人井污染引起的急性胃肠道疾病 (AGI) 病例总数。微生物来源追踪用于将预测的疾病病例与牛、人类或未知的粪便来源相关联。

结果：

结果表明，在 Kewaunee 县，私人井污染可能导致每年多达 301 例 AGI 病例，并且每年分别有 230 例和 12 例与牛和人类粪便源有关。此外，预计隐孢子虫每年会引起 190 例病例，是 QMRA 中所有 8 种病原体中最多的。

讨论：

这项研究对基沃尼县的土地利用和水资源管理具有重要意义，并告知饮用在其他类似脆弱的水文地质环境中生产的饮用水对公共卫生的影响。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7815