Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID MD2025-RosenbergGoldstein_Smit

Association of Coastal Flooding and Septic Systems on Food- and Waterborne Illness (Graduate Summer Award)

Institute: Maryland
Year Established: 2025 Start Date: 2026-01-01 End Date: 2026-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $8,472 Total Non-Federal Funds: $8,472

Principal Investigators: Rachel E. Rosenberg Goldstein

Project Summary: Approximately 420,000 Maryland homes rely on septic systems, with over 12% these homes within 1,000 feet of tidally influenced waters which includes bodies of water where levels can rise and fall. The combination of coastal flooding and septic system failure among these homes could increase the risk of exposure to disease causing pathogens contained in septic systems. The objective of our proposal is to identify how coastal flooding and use of septic systems impact infectious diseases in Maryland and specifically Maryland's Eastern Shore. We hypothesize that there is a significant association between coastal flooding events and septic system presence on reported pathogens in Maryland. Our research will use spatial and statistical analyses on Maryland FoodNet Data from 2010 to 2022 to test our hypothesis.