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About the Lab

Mission Statement

The mission of the Drinking Water Justice Lab (DWJL) is to:

  • Facilitate community engagement to create ongoing awareness and understanding of drinking water justice issues (i.e. quality, affordability, and accessibility)

DWJL Purpose

Drinking water research is critical because access to water ensures human life, but also because water enables one to maintain dignity. A life without water means one must experience financial and time hardships associated with procuring water to bathe, cook, flush a toilet, clean with, and drink. 

Research Support

Below is the current lab research support. To learn more about past research support, click here.

National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control (prime), CDC-RFA-EJ20-2025

Project Title: Strengthening environmental health capacity (EHC) to detect, prevent, and control environmental health hazards through data-driven, evidence-based approaches

Year(s): 2021-2023

DWJL Projects Supported: Tennessee Community Water System Estimated Service Area Boundary Digitization Process

PI: Dr. Mary-Margaret Fill, Tennessee Department of Health

Site PI: Dr. Yolanda J. McDonald

Research Assistants: Marie Caiola (Lead), Austin Fernandez, Minoli Fernando, Ashley Kim (Lead), Aakash Manapat, & Meena Muthusubramanian