Evaluating Potential Exposure Risk to Gastrointestinal Disease-Causing Specimens: Five 2019 Wastewater Spills in Atlanta Watershed Region

Keywords: Health and medical geography, gastrointestinal disease, multi-sourced data, wastewater spill
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 21

Abstract

Wastewater spills occur frequently due to equipment malfunction or weather-related complications; in 2019, within the Atlanta Watershed Region, there were 245 spills totaling 1,442,124 gallons discharged into creeks and onto dry land. Untreated sewage can contain disease-causing pathogens that when exposed to the young, elderly, and/or immunocompromised individuals could result in severe gastrointestinal disease. In this research, we create a model that quantifies exposure risk along the path of five documented spills to seven gastrointestinal disease-causing specimens. Our model uses landscape, pathogen, and population variables derived from publicly available and simulated datasets. Using U.S. Geological Elevation data, the spill trace lines tool, and flow accumulation tool within the ArcGIS Pro Hydrology Spatial Analysis toolkit, we are able to simulate spill pathways and identify areas of accumulation of the wastewater. To account for pathogen variations, we create and use simulated datasets for the pathogen’s prevalence in wastewater and place-based risk of the pathogen. For each spill and the seven pathogens, the model results in a point-by-point exposure risk score along the spill’s path using these variables. The results indicate that the spill that occurred in southwest Atlanta had the highest levels of risk. These areas are characterized by industrialized land use and with a comparatively higher elderly population. Of all the pathogens, the exposure risk was much higher for adenovirus and rotavirus due to their infectivity and estimated concentrations in wastewater.