What are the drinking water sources and exposures to regulated water contaminants among participants in the California Teachers Study cohort?
Water Purification (J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2024, PMID 39003368) — among participants who lived within a CWS boundary and reported their water source (2017-2019), approximately 74% reported municipal, 15% bottled, 2% private well, 4% other, and 5% did not know/missing. The abstract for Water Purification states no limitations.
Source: J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2024, PMID 39003368 ↗ · Research map · How Magellan grades evidence · evidence confidence: medium
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol · 2024 · PMID 39003368 · DOI 10.1038/s41370-024-00703-9
Even with average contaminant levels below regulatory limits, drinking water exposures vary significantly among California women based on their demographics and neighborhood characteristics.
The question
What are the drinking water sources and exposures to regulated water contaminants among participants in the California Teachers Study cohort?
What they tested
The study implicitly hypothesizes that there may be variations in drinking water sources and contaminant exposures across different demographic and neighborhood subgroups within the California Teachers Study cohort, even if average levels are below regulatory limits.
How they did it
The study linked geocoded addresses of 115,206 California Teachers Study participants (1995-1996) to Community Water System (CWS) service area boundaries and monitoring data. Average concentrations (1990-2015) of arsenic, uranium, nitrate, gross alpha (GA), five haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), trichloroethylene (TCE), and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) were computed. Generalized linear regression was used to estimate geometric mean ratios of CWS exposures across demographic subgroups and neighborhood characteristics. Self-reported drinking water source and consumption from a 2017-2019 follow-up were also described.
What they found
Medians of average concentrations for all contaminants were below regulatory limits. For example, arsenic was 1.03 µg/L, uranium 3.48 µg/L, GA 2.21 pCi/L, nitrate 0.54 mg/L, HAA5 8.67 µg/L, and TTHM 12.86 µg/L. Among participants who lived within a CWS boundary and reported their water source (2017-2019), approximately 74% reported municipal, 15% bottled, 2% private well, 4% other, and 5% did not know/missing. Black, Hispanic, and Native American participants had higher average arsenic, uranium, GA, and nitrate concentrations compared to non-Hispanic white participants. Participants in higher socioeconomic status (SES) quartiles had lower arsenic, uranium, GA, and nitrate, but higher HAA5 and TTHM. Non-metropolitan participants had higher arsenic, uranium, and nitrate, while metropolitan participants had higher HAA5 and TTHM.
| Municipal | 74 | |
|---|---|---|
| Bottled | 15 | |
| Private Well | 2 | |
| Other | 4 | |
| Did Not Know/Missing | 5 |
Distribution of self-reported drinking water sources among participants within a CWS boundary who provided information.
What it means
While average water contaminant levels were generally below regulatory limits in this large cohort of California women, significant heterogeneity in exposures was observed across sociodemographic subgroups and neighborhood characteristics. These data will be used for future assessments of drinking water exposures and disease risk.
Limitations
The abstract does not explicitly state limitations, but it implies that the study focuses on describing exposures and will be used for future assessments, suggesting it is not a health outcomes study itself.
Where the published abstract does not list limitations, we say so rather than inventing them. Read the full paper on PubMed before drawing conclusions.
The paper at a glance
| Title | Drinking water source and exposure to regulated water contaminants in the California Teachers Study cohort |
|---|---|
| Journal | J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol |
| Year | 2024 |
| PMID | 39003368 ↗ |
| DOI | 10.1038/s41370-024-00703-9 ↗ |
| Topic | Environment, air, water & exposures |
Read the source: PubMed record (authors, abstract, full citation) ↗ · Publisher via doi.org ↗
Where Magellan uses this paper
This citation sits behind the evidence grade on the pages below. Grades are set from the research and are independent of affiliate commissions.
Water Purification (Reverse Osmosis & Ultrafiltration)
The health rationale for RO rests on evidence that the contaminants it removes are linked to disease: long-term exposure to trihalomethanes is associated with bladder cancer, drinking-water nitrate with colorectal cancer, inorganic arsenic with cardiovascular disease and several cancers, lead with cardiovascular…
A reverse osmosis (RO) system purifies drinking water by forcing it under pressure through a…
A reverse osmosis (RO) system purifies drinking water by forcing it under pressure through a…
Research describes the compound or intervention studied. It is not a claim about any specific product.
Cite this page
These citations point at this summary. To cite the original paper with its full author list, use the PubMed record or doi.org.
Magellan Longevity. (2026). What are the drinking water sources and exposures to regulated water contaminants among participants in the California Teachers Study cohort? [Plain-English summary of J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2024, PMID 39003368, DOI 10.1038/s41370-024-00703-9]. Magellan Longevity. https://magellanlongevity.com/study/x18.html@misc{magellan_x18,
title = {What are the drinking water sources and exposures to regulated water contaminants among participants in the California Teachers Study cohort?},
author = {{Magellan Longevity}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://magellanlongevity.com/study/x18.html}},
note = {Plain-English summary of PubMed PMID 39003368; DOI 10.1038/s41370-024-00703-9; J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2024. Reviewed by Gabriel Radu, DO},
urldate = {2026-08-11}
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