Harnessing SWOT observations to advance well water disaster surveillance

Principle Investigator: Kelsey Pieper (Northeastern University)

Co-Investigator(s): Edward Beighley, C. Nathan Jones

Collaborator(s): Jon Fowlkes, Wilson Mize

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The 44 million residents in the United States reliant on unregulated private wells cannot access the same level of protection from drinking water hazards as those served by regulated municipal water, resulting in widespread, multifaceted drinking water contamination. Natural hazards magnify drinking water disparities, as inequities in hazard risks, infrastructure recovery, and social infrastructure render well-reliant populations more vulnerable and less resilient. This is a serious public health concern as exposure to contaminated well water has led to waterborne disease outbreaks, lead poisoning, birth defects, and other serious health problems. Our proposed research advances well water surveillance after disasters by enhancing identification of well users at-risk of flood-related contamination using NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) observations. We are developing a SWOT-enabled inundation modeling system to provide comprehensive flooding metrics (e.g., duration and depth of flooding), which will enable more accurate, near-real time flood boundaries. Delineating flood boundaries will improve identification of well users at-risk flooding impact, which is critical because many well users in flood-prone area have insufficient knowledge of recovery behaviors and awareness of flood-related contamination.