Researchers from the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health have been awarded approximately $500,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study the long-term health impacts of drinking water that contains low levels of arsenic.

Project leader Sid O’Bryant, Ph.D., along with collaborators from TTUHSC and Texas Tech University, will conduct the study through the institute’s ongoing rural health project, Project FRONTIER. Project FRONTIER (Facing Rural Obstacles to health care Now Through Intervention, Education and Research) is designed as a “Framingham-like” study of the factors impacting health among rural West Texans.

O’Bryant and colleagues will recruit 600 people for this study over a two-year period from the West Texas counties of Cochran, Bailey and Parmer.

“Project FRONTIER is one of the largest and most comprehensive studies of rural health in U.S. history,” said O’Bryant, director of rural health research for the institute. “This grant from the EPA will enable us to determine if rural adults and elders are at increased risk for negative health consequences due to the water they drink.”

He added, “No one in the U.S. has ever explicitly studied how drinking water, that contains arsenic at levels below what the EPA has deemed acceptable, might be harmful in the long term. If we demonstrate that this is harmful, we can then push for refinement of policy regarding acceptable drinking water standards.”

The F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health was initially established as the Office of Rural and Community Health in 1997 and commissioned to provide a more defined rural focus for the institution. A generous gift from Ms. Marie Hall in 2006 provided for the creation of the institute and expansion of its work and resources. The institute works in collaboration with West Texas residents for the advancement of health through use of technology, comprehensive education and outreach.