# Public Drinking Water Contaminants and Infant Health: Advancing Environmental Justice

> **NIH NIH DP5** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $405,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
The objective of this project is to evaluate the contribution of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in
public drinking water contaminant exposures to in utero water contaminant exposures and subsequent adverse
birth outcomes across the United States (US). Potential disparities in public drinking water contaminant
exposures have not been comprehensively characterized across the US. Such disparities in public drinking
water contaminant exposures may directly contribute to inequalities in in utero exposures and inequalities in
adverse birth outcomes.
This proposal aims to (1) evaluate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in drinking water contaminant
exposures across the US by developing novel nationwide public drinking water contaminant exposure
estimates for over eighty regulated contaminants; (2) evaluate the contribution of estimated public drinking
water metal exposures to measured in utero internal dose and infant health outcomes across three diverse
birth cohorts; and (3) evaluate the impact of changes in national public drinking water regulations on infant
health outcomes using a difference-in-differences approach, which can characterize the impact of federal
drinking water regulatory changes on diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic subgroups in the US. In Aim 1,
novel nationwide public drinking water contaminant exposure estimates will be derived primarily using data
from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Six Year Review of Contaminant Occurrence database, which
contains compliance monitoring data for over 95% of public drinking water systems throughout the US. In Aim
2, novel public drinking water contaminant exposure estimates from Aim 1 are assigned to maternal-infant
dyads in several diverse birth cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)
nationwide consortium, a pioneering NIH funded consortium. In Aim 3, novel public drinking water contaminant
exposure estimates from Aim 1 are assigned to birth records from the California Comprehensive Birth File to
evaluate the impact of reducing water contaminant exposures (via federal regulatory change) on adverse birth
outcomes. The proposed study responds directly to the NIH Strategic Plan 2020 aim to “Develop evidence-
based interventions to reduce health disparities,” including “Understanding mechanisms that lead to health
disparities by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.”

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10918284
- **Project number:** 5DP5OD031849-04
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Anne E Nigra
- **Activity code:** DP5 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $405,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-14 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10918284

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10918284, Public Drinking Water Contaminants and Infant Health: Advancing Environmental Justice (5DP5OD031849-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10918284. Licensed CC0.

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