Research

In the U.S., the introduction of centralized, treated water distribution systems more than a century ago achieved enormous health gains; however, these systems are now challenged by aging infrastructure, emerging contaminants, and a changing climate. While more than two billion people worldwide have gained access to an improved source of drinking water in the last two decades, rapid urbanization, water scarcity, and inadequate wastewater treatment threaten this progress.

Our research focuses on enabling the supply of safe, reliable, and sustainable drinking water and sanitation services to communities around the world. Our methods bridge environmental and systems engineering at the interface with public health. We use laboratory-scale experiments, field data collection, and modeling to address the scientific, engineering, and policy challenges in building and maintaining adaptable and resilient water and sanitation systems to meet human and environmental needs into the future. The themes of our group’s work include:

Water Distribution Systems

Our work advances knowledge on water distribution systems, particularly those experiencing loss of pressure (intermittent water supplies), through large-scale, international field studies, experiments on a lab-scale pipe loop, and modeling studies to understand both implications for water quality and water access. Our work and partners include:

  1. Microbial community dynamics, disinfection byproducts, and antibiotic resistance in intermittent water supply – American Society of Engineering Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  2. Consortium On Disinfection byproducts and Opportunistic pathogens in Water Networks (CO-DOWN) – Environmental Protection Agency (Prime: UT Austin)
  3. CBET-EPSRC: Characterizing the effects of supply hours and pressure of intermittent piped water supplies on water quality – NSF (CBET-1804232)
  4. Household water access under intermittent supply
    • Wunderlich, S., S. Freeman, L. Galindo, C. Brown, and E. Kumpel (2021). Optimizing Household Water Decisions for Managing Intermittent Water Supply in Mexico City. Environmental Science & Technology, 55, 12, 8371–8381.
    • Kumpel, E., N. Billava, N. Nayak, A. Ercumen (2021). Intermittent and continuous water supply and water access in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Water and Health. 20 (1): 139–148. DOI:10.2166/wh.2021.184
    • Rawas, F., R. Bain, and E. Kumpel (2020). Comparing utility-reported hours of piped water supply to households’ experiences. npj Clean Water, 3(1), 1-9

Data for Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Systems

We build novel methods for collecting and making sense of data to inform our understanding of water and sanitation infrastructure systems. This includes developing methods and models for improving water quality monitoring and a unique machine learning method to inform the state of buried infrastructure systems. Our work and partners include:

  1. Statewide Wastewater Needs Assessment – California State Water Board (Prime: UCLA)
  2. IRES Track 1: Envisioning the Water, Electricity, and Sanitation Utilities of the Future through a US-Kenya Collaboration – NSF (OISE-1854133)
  3. Water Quality in DCR Reservoirs 2022-2024 – Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Water Supply Protection
    • Understanding the source and future of elevated total coliform levels in the Quabbin Reservoir
  4. Water Quality in DCR Reservoirs 2020-2022 – Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Papers include:
  5. Design of sampling strategies in water distribution systems
    • da Luz, N., E. Kumpel (2020). Evaluating the impact of sampling design on drinking water quality monitoring program outcomes. Water Research, 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116217.

Water Access and Equity for Small, Remote, or Disadvantaged Systems

We uncover new insights into how to achieve equitable water access for small, remote, or disadvantaged systems through studies of multiple or alternative water sources and evaluating scales and innovation in water treatment and provision.

  1. Innovation Applied: Streamlining Access and Approval of Technology for Small Systems and Private Wells – Environmental Protection Agency (Prime: ASDWA)
    • Exploratory data collection on processing for state approval of innovate technologies
    • Developing a typology of water systems in the US
  2. Small Community and Non-Transient, Non-Community Water Systems – Lead Service Line Inventory and Lead Service Line Replacement Plan Programs – Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
  3. NNA Research: Collaborative Research: Meq unguvatkarput (water is our livelihood) – building community resilience for the future – NSF NNA
  4. Sustainability Comparison Study: Centralized vs POU/POE Treatment for Small System Compliance to the SDWA – Water Quality Research Foundation
  5. A Targeted Initiative to Support Safe Drinking Water within MassDEP’s Drinking Water Program by Improving the Quality, Reliability, and Future Collection of Data on Drinking Water Wells in MA – Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
  6. Prior project: First flush and water quality in rainwater catchment systems.
    • Charlebois B., Reckhow, D., Wittbold, P., E. Kumpel (2023). Effective First Flush Volumes in Rainwater Catchment Systems. AQUA – Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society. DOI:10.2166/aqua.2023.049

Prior Work

Water quality monitoring in Sub-Saharan Africa (2013-2016) – @ the Aquaya Institute

Upgrading intermittent to continuous water supply in India (2009-2012) – @ UC Berkeley