RAPID: Chemical and Microbiological Quality of Floodwaters in Houston Following Hurricane Harvey

飓风哈维于2017年8月25日下午10点以萨菲尔-辛普森四级飓风登陆德克萨斯州。哈维在得克萨斯州上空停留了几天，并给休斯顿带来了前所未有的降雨量，大都会区部分地区的降雨量超过50英寸。在一个工业活动丰富的城市地区发生这种前所未有的洪水，有可能使水道、土壤和沉积物受到化学污染物和微生物病原体的广泛污染。在了解此类活动的潜在影响方面存在的一个主要问题是，此类活动发生的频率相对较低，持续时间太短，无法利用传统的提案评估和供资程序进行数据收集和科学评估。该提案旨在通过迅速描述哈维飓风后休斯顿水道的化学污染和微生物污染来解决这一问题，以便了解污染的程度，并为随后对环境恢复情况的研究提供比较基础，以支持未来的决策。（i）了解哈维之后休斯顿水系统中各种污染物的空间分布;（ii）收集独一无二的数据集，以了解这种灾难性事件后系统的恢复情况;以及（iii）使用最先进的宏基因组学技术来确定休斯顿水道灾后的微生物状况及其与社区健康的关系。四个水道将进行研究：布雷斯，布法罗，和绿色和桃溪代表不同的流量和土地利用/土地覆盖制度，和污染源。样本收集将包括来自淹没地区和河流中地点的水柱、土壤和沉积物样本。对金属、有机污染物的化学分析，以及最先进和更传统的微生物评估技术，将有助于详细调查哈维飓风对周围社区的健康危害。这些数据将支持决策，建设能力和提高大都市水基础设施面对极端天气事件的复原力。

Hurricane Harvey landed in Texas as a Saffir-Simpson Category 4 hurricane at 10 p.m. CST on August 25, 2017. Harvey stalled over Texas for several days and brought an unprecedented amount of rainfall into Houston that exceeded 50 inches over some parts of the Greater Metro area. Such unprecedented flooding in an urban area with abundant industrial activity has the potential to produce widespread contamination of waterways, soils and sediment by chemical pollutants and microbiological pathogens. A major issue with understanding the potential impact of such events is that they occur relatively infrequently and are of too short duration to allow for data collection and scientific evaluation using the traditional proposal evaluation and funding processes. This proposal seeks to remedy that problem by rapidly characterizing the chemical pollution and microbiological contamination in Houston waterways post-Harvey to provide both an understanding of the extent of pollution, as well as to provide a base of comparison for subsequent studies of the recovery of the environment over time to support future decision making.The specific project objectives are to: (i) understand the spatial distribution of various contaminants in Houston water systems post-Harvey; (ii) collect a one-of-its-kind dataset to understand the recovery of the system after such a catastrophic event; and (iii) use state-of-the-art metagenomics techniques to define the microbiological condition of Houston waterways post-disaster and relationship to community health. Four waterways will be studied: Brays, Buffalo, and Greens and Peach Creek represent different flow and land use/land cover regimes, and pollutant sources. Sample collection will encompass the water column, and soil and sediment samples from inundated areas and in-stream locations. Chemical analyses of metals, organic pollutants, and both state-of-the-art and more conventional microbiological assessment techniques will enable detailed investigation of the health hazards to surrounding communities in the wake of Harvey. These data will support decision-making, building capacity and increasing resilience within metropolitan urban water infrastructure in the face of extreme weather events.