UMD Taps Into Demand for Information About Water Quality in State

Frank and Paula Hollewa no longer trust the water coming out of the faucets at their Frederick County home. Over the past eight months, it’s often gushed out brownish-yellow and gritty. 

“I don't feel clean. I’m sick all the time. I feel helpless,” said Paula Hollewa, who now follows her doctor’s recommendation not to drink or wash in the municipal water in rural Adamstown, Md. 

But for answers on what’s wrong with her water, she turned to the University of Maryland, where researchers are conducting the first statewide analysis of drinking water contaminants. Funded by a UMD Grand Challenges Grant, the Maryland Safe Drinking WATER Study is testing public drinking water systems and private wells in underserved communities using a combination of citizen science, field-based research and laboratory analyses. 

“From the crisis in Flint, Michigan, a decade ago to the boil-water advisories in Baltimore more recently, water quality issues pop up all the time,” said Rianna Murray, associate research professor at UMD’s School of Public Health (SPH) and co-director of the WATER Study project. “We want to help Marylanders know what exactly is in the water they drink and the remediation steps recommended by the EPA.” 

Co-director and Associate Research Professor Leena Malayil said drinking water sources and municipal facilities are adequately monitored, but there is little information at the household level. “Our study is one of the first to test for such a wide array of contaminants in home drinking water across the entire state.”

In the project’s first phase, over 800 participants used at-home test kits to check for contaminants such as lead, bacteria and nitrates. Wearing polyethylene overalls and gloves, the research team then traveled to 154 homes in Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore city, including the Hollewas’, collecting water samples where the water line enters the home, and at the point of use, such as a kitchen sink. 

Researchers are looking for contaminants of “emerging concern” that include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals”—human-made compounds that do not break down over time—as well as pharmaceutical and personal or home care products, heavy metals and microbial contaminants. 

Murray said the preliminary data suggests drinking water in Maryland is generally safe; the at-home test kits showed small percentages of households with various harmful contaminants.

“We are still analyzing samples, but we expect to see the presence of forever chemicals, consistent with other research and possibly heavy metals and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, which are also harmful to health,” she said.

PFAS have been found in at least 45% of American drinking water sources and have been linked by various studies to increased cancer risk, including one that suggested exposure can increase risk of cancer by a third. 

The WATER Study project is a collaboration that includes PFAS expert Paul Turner and microbiologist Amy R. Sapkota in SPH and Allen P. Davis, the Charles A. Irish Sr. Chair in Civil Engineering at UMD. Davis’ lab tested water samples for inorganic contaminants including phosphorus, nitrate, zinc and arsenic. 

“Our data show that in general things look good. But we have a few samples where concentrations exceed federal limits in both municipal supplies and from wells from around the state. We're in the process of finalizing data and trying to understand where this contamination may come from. It may be from the supply or the plumbing in the house,” said Davis.  

Back in Adamstown in Frederick County, the WATER Study team took samples at Hope Green’s kitchen faucet. She shared the Hollewas’ worries that construction of a data center on a former superfund site about a mile away might be connected to problems with her well water.

“After two years of good testing, my well just failed and it failed the same year they started digging back there,” said Green, who, frustrated with the lack of answers, has since installed a reverse osmosis water filter. 

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act requires municipal water to be tested regularly to ensure the immediate safety of public drinking water, but it has no testing requirements for private wells. In response to residents’ concerns, the Frederick County Health Department tested 10 wells in Adamstown and said preliminary results announced Feb. 10 show “naturally occurring metals and levels of contamination typically seen near farms, households, railroad tracks and industrial sites,” but no evidence that currently links well contamination to data center development.

Georgia Parolski, an environmental health specialist at SPH and program manager of the WATER Study, said people with wells rarely test their water for contaminants unless there are clear signs of a problem. Parolski hopes that even if the law doesn’t require it, the project will encourage well owners to test them regularly. 

Study participants like Green and the Hollewas will receive individualized results detailing any contaminants detected in their homes’ water and their respective Environmental Protection Agency safety levels. 

This spring, the WATER Study team, partnering with the University of Maryland Extension, will lead public workshops to educate Marylanders on home drinking water safety and share some of their findings. 

“Recent concerns about water quality and the major development in Adamstown for example, serve as a clear example of why this research is essential,” said Malayil. “We hope our study will help Maryland residents know what’s in their water as well as support policymakers to maintain drinking water quality across the state.”