Student Spotlight
Charlotte Smith: Water Expert Broadens Her Knowledge By Johanna Van Hise Heart Charlotte Smith, M.A., has risen quickly to the top of her field: She was director of water quality for a corporation that managed 35 drinking water utilities in 15 states; she has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals; she has traveled internationally to offer her expertise in distribution system water quality and regulatory compliance planning; she presents often at professional conferences; she has served the American Water Works Association in several leadership capacities; and she has served on a committee of the National Academy of Sciences. Yet she feels she can do more. To that end, Smith, a first-year doctoral student in environmental health sciences, is back in school after 20 years of professional work at New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, the General Water Works Corporation, and as an independent consultant. Even if she didn’t have a master’s degree in community health, Smith would be considered a public health professional by virtue of her dedication to providing clean drinking water. “Water quality is public health. If you work to make the water clean, you are looking after public health,” she says. But, so far, she has worked primarily on the operations side of the business—assessing the quality of water after it has been treated, solving the mystery of how quality degrades as it moves through pipes and storage facilities, and identifying ways to fix or counteract problems.
studies is the use of chloramines. Chloramine (compounds of chlorine bound with nitrogen) enables disinfection to occur without the production of harmful chlorinated byproducts. Smith is an expert in employing a “booster chloramine” approach, which enables disinfection to occur without the presence of excess free chlorine and the potential generation of harmful byproducts. This balance between adequate disinfection and overuse of harmful chemicals is one that the water industry has struggled with for more than 30 years. Who can recommend a best practice that balances costs, feasibility, and potential impacts on health? And who is positioned to revise regulations as research reveals more information about water treatment methods and the health risks they pose? Smith hopes her graduate work in public health will enhance her ability to offer assistance. “My interest in degradation of water quality has always been more about the impact on health than the chemistry,” she says. “The public health degree will give me a broader sense of issues from the public health perspective.”
nical work group that will evaluate data and advise negotiators who are revising the “Total Coliform Rule,” one of many gauges of water quality. The rule requires that utilities monitor for coliform bacteria, a family of bacteria that live in the lower intestines of mammals. The presence of coliforms in water indicates contamination and the possible presence of dangerous pathogens, some of which are methodologically difficult to detect. While many strains of coliform are harmless to humans, some, including E. coli, cause problems such as acute gastrointestinal illness. The “Total Coliform Rule” revisers will need to consider what coliform levels should be deemed acceptable and even whether measuring for coliform bacteria is the most effective means of determining health risks. “It is one thing to understand that coliform levels are high and that pathogens may be present,” says Smith of what she will contribute, “and another to understand the risk of disease that the numbers represent.” Smith hopes she will be able to do more good as the complete package. “I often say I have depth but not width. The doctorate will provide me breadth.”
Smith is an authority on assessing and managing drinking water contamination that occurs in distribution systems after the water has been treated. Many water treatment facilities use chlorine as a disinfectant to kill disease-causing organisms. Water engineers know water is disinfected when they can measurably detect excess chlorine. However, any chlorine that does not chemically act to kill organisms can oxidize other organic matter to form potentially carcinogenic chlorinated byproducts.
Already Smith has new opportunities to apply conSo, while as a water quality expert she may already nections between water quality and public health. have arrived, there is a world of difference yet to Recently, she attended a Committee of State and make. “This is what I am all about. This is what I Territorial Epidemiologists conference sponsored by do,” she jokes. “My epitaph will be: ‘She tried to the Centers for Disease Control and U.S. EPA concerning water-borne disease outbreak. “Water utility make the water safe.’” staff and epidemiologists attended the conference,” reports Smith, “but there were very few people who understood both perspecSmith (front left) served on a committee of the National Academy of Sciences that published the tives. It was very exciting book, Drinking Water Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks. that I could understand the issues from both perspectives.” The two disciplines have their own languages and methods, and coursework in biostatistics and infectious disease is providing her the tools to appreciate the interrelated work of many disciplines.
What can be done to mitigate carcinogen production in our drinking water? One method Smith
Smith has also been invited to sit on the tech-
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University of California, Berkeley