ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2017
The Case for Universal Screening of Private Well Water Quality in the U.S. and Testing Requirements to Achieve It: Evidence from Arsenic.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 87 citations in OpenAlex.
- Private, public, and bottled drinking water: Shared contaminant-mixture exposures and effects challenge.Environment international · 2025Pooled it
- Contribution of arsenic and uranium in private wells and community water systems to urinary biomarkers in US adults: The Strong Heart Study and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Private Well Testing in Peri-Urban African-American Communities Lacking Access to Regulated Municipal Drinking Water: A Mental Models Approach to Risk Communication.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2022Trial
- Engineering human cerebral organoids to explore mechanisms of arsenic-induced developmental neurotoxicity.Toxicology and applied pharmacology · 2025Article
- Evaluating the effectiveness of community-informed resource dissemination at increasing knowledge and testing rates among private well water owners in a statewide population.Journal of environmental management · 2025Article
- Mixed contaminant exposure in tapwater and the potential implications for human-health in disadvantaged communities in California.Water research · 2024Article
- Invited Perspective: The All About Arsenic Program-A Blueprint for Leveraging Youth Engagement to Advance Water Justice.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Invited Perspective: Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Drinking Water-Disparities in Community Exposures Based on Race and Socioeconomic Status.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Using Inundation Extents to Predict Microbial Contamination in Private Wells after Flooding Events.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Prioritizing river basins for nutrient studies.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2024Article
- Toxic metal mixtures in private well water and increased risk for preterm birth in North Carolina.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2023Article
- Cross-sectional associations between drinking water arsenic and urinary inorganic arsenic in the United States: NHANES 2003-2014.Environmental research · 2023Article
- Juxtaposition of intensive agriculture, vulnerable aquifers, and mixed chemical/microbial exposures in private-well tapwater in northeast Iowa.The Science of the total environment · 2023Article
- Communicating Results of Drinking Water Tests From Private Wells: Designing Report-Back Materials to Facilitate Understanding.Journal of environmental health · 2023Article
- Disparities in Drinking Water Manganese Concentrations in Domestic Wells and Community Water Systems in the Central Valley, CA, USA.Environmental science & technology · 2023Article
- Tapwater Exposures, Effects Potential, and Residential Risk Management in Northern Plains Nations.ACS ES&T water · 2022Article
- Analysis of the novel NCWELL database highlights two decades of co-occurrence of toxic metals in North Carolina private well water: Public health and environmental justice implications.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- Early life lead exposure from private well water increases juvenile delinquency risk among US teens.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Riboflavin recovery of spermatogenic dysfunction via a dual inhibition of oxidative changes and regulation of the PINK1-mediated pathway in arsenic-injured rat model.Physiological research · 2021Article
- Defining drinking water metal contaminant mixture risk by coupling zebrafish behavioral analysis with citizen science.Scientific reports · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulates >170,000 public water systems to protect health, but not >13 million private wells. State and local government requirements for private well water testing are rare and inconsistent; the responsibility to ensure water safety remains with individual households. Over the last two decades, geogenic arsenic has emerged as a significant public health concern due to high prevalence in many rural American communities.
objectivesWe build the case for universal screening of private well water quality around arsenic, the most toxic and widespread of common private water contaminants. We argue that achieving universal screening will require policy intervention, and that testing should be made easy, accessible, and in many cases free to all private well households in the United States, considering the invisible, tasteless, odorless, and thus silent nature of arsenic. DISCUSSION: Our research has identified behavioral, situational and financial barriers to households managing their own well water safety, resulting in far from universal screening despite traditional public health outreach efforts. We observe significant socioeconomic disparities in arsenic testing and treatment when private water is unregulated. Testing requirements can be a partial answer to these challenges.
conclusionsUniversal screening, achieved through local testing requirements complemented by greater community engagement targeting biologically and socioeconomically vulnerable groups, would reduce population arsenic exposure greater than any promotional efforts to date. Universal screening of private well water will identify the dangers hidden in America's drinking water supply and redirect attention to ensure safe water among affected households. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP629.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.