# Drinking water salinity in a hot-dry environment: Hydration, kidney function, and blood pressure

> **NIH NIH R01** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · 2024 · $707,288

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The increasing salinity of groundwater is a key emerging global environmental health risk factor for hundreds of
millions of adults, including in the United States. Climate change and anthropogenic effects are exacerbating the
salinization of drinking water sources. Drinking water salinity increases concerns about water safety. Further,
recent evidence suggests that it may affect body water homeostasis, negatively impact kidney function, and
increase blood pressure (BP) and risk of hypertension. In hot settings, physiological water needs increase, yet
water scarcity and salinity make it harder to meet those needs. However, aside from guidelines for palatability,
which are important as they may signify individual concerns, there are currently no established health standards
for maximum water salinity (unlike dietary salt). Much of the research examining drinking water salinity has done
so cross-sectionally, retrospectively, or in settings where other factors such as health-protecting salts may con-
found the relationship. Further, in examining chronic kidney disease of unknown origin, studies examine water
quality or heat stress, without integrating co-exposures. Thus, it is hard to know how drinking water salinity affects
hydration, kidney function, and hypertension and whether effects are due to salinity or other factors. A critical
step toward understanding and mitigating the health risks of water salinity is to establish evidence-based rela-
tionships between water salinity and health using a longitudinal design in a real world hot setting with variation
in water salinity levels due to seasonality, hydrology, and a desalination system. This research proposes to test
the central hypothesis that drinking water salinity is detrimental to hydration, kidney function, and BP longitudi-
nally. The specific aims of the project are: (1) To identify seasonal variation in drinking water salinity and individ-
ual hydration status, water turnover, and water insecurity; (2) To test how drinking water salinity affects kidney
function and injury over time; and (3) To test how drinking water salinity affects systolic and diastolic BP and
hypertension longitudinally, and whether these BP changes affect kidney health. The research will expand an
ongoing longitudinal study to leverage a natural experiment created by a new water desalination system that
provides variation in drinking water salinity levels across communities. This longitudinal study will enroll 600
adults (300 men, 300 women; 50% aged 18-45; 50% aged 45+) with seasonal (dry and rainy) assessments
across 3 years to have within-participant, repeated measures analysis. The research will integrate environmental
measures of water quality (in-field and laboratory assessment of water salinity, ionic composition, and heavy
metals) and heat stress (wet bulb globe temperatures, heat illness), socio-ecologic assessments (in-depth multi-
modal measurements of water and food insecurity,...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10865975
- **Project number:** 1R01ES035402-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
- **Principal Investigator:** Asher Y. Rosinger
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $707,288
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-20 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10865975

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10865975, Drinking water salinity in a hot-dry environment: Hydration, kidney function, and blood pressure (1R01ES035402-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10865975. Licensed CC0.

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