A Participatory-Based Research Approach for Assessing Exposure to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water in the Houston Neighborhood of the Greater Fifth Ward

Leanne S. Fawkes, Thomas J. McDonald, Taehyun Roh, Weihsueh A. Chiu, Robert J. Taylor and Garett T. Sansom
Additional contact information
Leanne S. Fawkes: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Thomas J. McDonald: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Taehyun Roh: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Weihsueh A. Chiu: Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Robert J. Taylor: Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Garett T. Sansom: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-11

Abstract: To address community-driven concerns about lead-contaminated drinking water in residential homes in the Greater Fifth Ward neighborhood in Northeast Houston, Texas utilizing participatory-based research. The study collected survey data and performed lead analysis on drinking water from residents’ homes. The Greater Fifth Ward is characterized as a majority-minority environmental justice community and is located within two confirmed cancer clusters. The residents of 172 homes completed a survey and had detectable lead levels in their water samples. Survey results indicated that more than half of the residents (58.2%) were concerned with the water quality and 42.9% rated the drinking water as poor. Water lead levels detected ranged from 0.01 to 22 µg/L. 10.9% of homes exceeding 1 µg/L, and one located exceeded the USEPA’s action limit of 15 µg/L. Homes built prior to 1978 without major renovation had significantly higher levels of lead in their drinking water compared to homes built after 1978 ( p -value < 0.05). These findings demonstrate the need for lead testing of residential water in low socioeconomic-status communities, as well as demonstrating the benefits of community engagement and participatory research to address environmental health concerns.

Keywords: environmental health; drinking water; lead contamination; environmental justice; participatory-based research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8135/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8135/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:8135-:d:854588

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().