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Extreme Precipitation, Public Health Emergencies, and Safe Drinking Water in the USA

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A Correction to this article was published on 26 May 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Purpose of Review

This review examines the effectiveness of drinking water regulations to inform public health during extreme precipitation events. This paper estimates the vulnerability of specific populations to flooding in their public water system, reviews the literature linking precipitation to waterborne outbreaks, examines the role that Safe Drinking Water Act and Public Notification (PN) Rule have in public health emergencies, and reviews the effectiveness of the PN Rule during the 2017 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Recent Findings

Public water systems in large metropolitan areas have substantial portions of their customer base at risk for a waterborne outbreak during a flooding event. The PN Rule are ambiguous for who is responsible for declaring a “waterborne emergency” following a natural disaster like Hurricane Maria.

Summary

Revisions to the current PN Rule that mandate public notification and water quality sampling during extreme precipitation events are necessary to ensure the public is aware of their drinking water quality following these events.

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Change history

  • 26 May 2018

    Unfortunately, the original publication of this article contained mistakes. The publisher introduced an error after proofreading where the name of the co-author was mistakenly captured as “David P. E. Harvey”. The correct name should be “David E. Harvey”.

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Correspondence to David E. Harvey.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: The name of the co-author was mistakenly captured as “David P. E. Harvey”. The correct name should be “David E. Harvey”.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Water and Health

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Exum, N.G., Betanzo, E., Schwab, K.J. et al. Extreme Precipitation, Public Health Emergencies, and Safe Drinking Water in the USA. Curr Envir Health Rpt 5, 305–315 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0200-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0200-5

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