Reconstructing Historical Voc Concentrations in Drinking Water for Epidemiological Studies at a U.S. Military Base: Summary of Results

Abstract

A U.S. government health agency conducted epidemiological studies to evaluate whether exposures to drinking water contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOC) at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were associated with increased health risks to children and adults. These health studies required knowledge of contaminant concentrations in drinking water-at monthly intervals-delivered to family housing, barracks, and other facilities within the study area. Because concentration data were limited or unavailable during much of the period of contamination (1950s-1985), the historical reconstruction process was used to quantify estimates of monthly mean contaminant-specific concentrations. This paper integrates many efforts, reports, and papers into a synthesis of the overall approach to, and results from, a drinking-water historical reconstruction study. Results show that at the Tarawa Terrace water treatment plant (WTP) reconstructed ( Author Contributions: All authors contributed to the research discussed in this article. Morris L. Maslia oversaw and directed the water-modeling analyses and Mustafa M. Aral contributed to the development of the water-supply well operation reconstructions, numerical modeling, and probabilistic analysis. Perri Z. Ruckart and Frank J. Bove developed the epidemiological studies protocols for application of water-modeling analyses and conducted the epidemiological studies.