Model for Estimating Acute Health Impacts from Consumption of Contaminated Drinking Water

Abstract

Disease transmission models predict the spread of disease over time through susceptible, infected, and recovered populations, and are commonly used to design public health intervention strategies. A modified disease model is linked to flow and transport models for water distribution systems in order to predict the health risks associated with use of contaminated water. The proposed framework provides information about the spatial and temporal distribution of health risks in distribution systems and is useful for understanding the vulnerability of drinking water systems to contamination events, as well as for designing public health and water utility strategies to reduce risks.