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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 24th Aug 2026, 01:50:39am WEST

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Daily Overview

Session

Water Quality and Management
Location: B129
Session Chair: Lusi Xie, University of Georgia

Presentation 1

The legacy of HOLC maps: A nationwide study on lead concentration in drinking water

Xinde JI¹, Haoluan Wang², Weizhe Weng¹, Yetian Cai³, Gavin Sidhu⁴

1: University of Guelph, Canada; 2: University of Miami, United States; 3: University of Florida, United States; 4: The University of New Mexico, United States

Discussant: Patrick Lloyd-Smith (University of Saskatchewan)

Lead contamination in drinking water remains a significant public health threat in the U.S., driven by complex challenges and impacts within public drinking water systems. Previous research has shown socio-demographic disparities in lead exposure, but the underlying factors, particularly historical ones, are not well understood. In this study, we use widely recognized spatially explicit maps to quantify the relationship between historical place-based practices and contemporary lead concentration in drinking water nationwide. Specifically, we analyze the 1930s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps and spatially link them to block group-level lead concentration in drinking water across 202 U.S. cities over the past three decades while accounting for various socio-demographic factors. Our analysis reveals that communities formerly classified as high lending risks exhibit higher lead concentration levels in drinking water and are more likely to have lead concentrations exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s reporting and action limits. These findings highlight the enduring effects of historical place-based policies on present-day environmental outcomes and emphasize the need for targeted infrastructure investments and policy interventions to mitigate lead exposure in vulnerable communities.