Managing Contaminated Drinking Water Post-Hurricane
About the Webinar
Originally presented on March 12, 2025
Drinking water infrastructure may become contaminated during a hurricane by tidal surge, flooding, pollutants in the water, or physical damage to the distribution system. Many communities experienced damage to drinking water systems following Hurricanes Harvey and Maria (2017), and as recently as Helene (2024). When community infrastructure is damaged from storms, contaminated floodwater can become a problem. It is important for emergency responders to understand how water systems can be decontaminated and returned to service so that communities can begin to recover.
This webinar will discuss a simulated post-hurricane contamination of a drinking water distribution system that was conducted at EPA's Water Security Test Bed (WSTB), a first-of-its-scale replication of a typical municipal drinking water piping system. The WSTB allows researchers and responders to better understand that behavior of water systems under real-world conditions. For this experiment, the 450-foot long pipe and associated premise plumbing were contaminated with diesel fuel, saltwater, and E. coli. The presenter will discuss how the system was monitored before, during, and after decontamination and provide the results.
About the Presenter
Chelsea Hintz is a Biologist in EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response (CESER). She joined EPA in 2019 and her current research focuses on the fate, transport, and impact of environmental contamination in aquatic systems. She has current projects examining the impact of spilled oil in freshwater environments and evaluating the impact of contamination within green infrastructure (specifically, bioretention cells). Chelsea has a Bachelor of Science in Zoology form Ohio State University and a PhD in Biology from the University of Cincinnati.