Journal article
A web-based spatial decision support system for monitoring the risk of water contamination hi private wells
Annals of GIS, v 26(3), pp 293-309
01 Jan 2020
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Long-term exposure to contaminated water can cause health effects, such as cancer. Accurate spatial prediction of inorganic compounds (e.g. arsenic) and pathogens in groundwater is critical for water supply management. Ideally, environmental health agencies would have access to an early warning system to alert well owners of risks of such contamination. The estimation and dissemination of these risks can be facilitated by the combination of Geographic Information Systems and spatial analysis capabilities - i.e., spatial decision support system (SDSS). However, the use of SDSS, especially web-based SDSS, is rare for spatially explicit studies of drinking water quality of private wells. In this study, we introduce the interactive Well Water Risk Estimation (iWWRE), a web-based SDSS to facilitate the monitoring of water contamination in private wells across Gaston County, North Carolina (US). Our system implements geoprocessing web services and generates dynamic spatial analysis results based on a database of private wells. Environmental health scientists using our system can conduct fine-grained spatial interpolation on 1) a particular type of contaminant such as arsenic, 2) on various subsets through a temporal query. Visuals consist of an estimation map, cross validation information, Kriging variance and contour lines that delineate areas with maximum contaminant levels (MCL), as set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Our web-based SDSS was developed jointly with environmental health specialists who found it particularly critical for the monitoring of local contamination trends, and a useful tool to reach out to private well users in highly elevated contaminated areas.
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Details
- Title
- A web-based spatial decision support system for monitoring the risk of water contamination hi private wells
- Creators
- Yu Lan - University of North Carolina at CharlotteWenwu Tang - University of North Carolina at CharlotteSamantha Dye - Gaston County SchoolsEric Delmelle - University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Publication Details
- Annals of GIS, v 26(3), pp 293-309
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Number of pages
- 17
- Grant note
- CDC-RFA-EH15-1507 / National Center for Environmental Health; United States Department of Health & Human Services; Centers for Disease Control & Prevention - USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000561175500008
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85088806588
- Other Identifier
- 991021874427704721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Geography
- Geography, Physical
- Remote Sensing