Leigh-Anne Krometis

Courses Taught Last Five Years

• BSE 1984: Engineering Biological Systems for the Global Good
• BSE 2004: Into to Biological Systems Engineering
• BSE 3334: NPS Assessment and Control
• BSE 4394: Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries
• BSE 5124: Advanced Topics in Watershed Management

Program Focus

Growth of human populations and accompanying increased urbanization often introduces new contaminants to the environment or creates new pathways of human exposure to existing risks while simultaneously creating an ever-increasing demand for high quality natural resources, particularly clean water. In order to promote development while preserving public health, it is necessary to identify potential threats and engineer solutions to minimize exposure and risk. The broad goals of my research group are to:

1. Identify (detect, quantify) waterborne agents that pose a threat to public health
2. Characterize environmental transport pathways that may result in human exposure to these contaminants
3. Assess the relative risks of specific contaminants in order to prioritize interventions (remediation)

In keeping with these goals, specific research group projects include: detection of human and non-human markers of fecal contamination in private drinking water supplies; identification of correlations between demographic characteristics and drinking water contamination by E. coli and/or heavy metals in rural communities; development of a stochastic model to estimate human risk associated with indicator bacteria impaired watersheds; assessment of the proximity of state-identified water quality impairments in Central Appalachia to mining and agricultural landuses; and characterization of patterns of sediment and water contamination by pollutants of human health concern in Stroubles Creek.

Current Projects

• Tracking antibiotic resistance in rural wastewater systems
• Characterizing PFAS contamination in private wells
• Quantifying water quality challenges in the Appalachian Coalfields
• Exploring the impacts of historic redlining practices on water infrastructure
• Evaluating commercial POU filter effectiveness in metals removal from homes served by private wells
• Delivering effective remote K-12 STEM education opportunities

Program Focus

Although I do not have an explicit extension appointment, I have developed a strong collaboration with Dr. Brian Benham and Erin Ling’s Virginia Household Water Quality Program (VAHWQP), which seeks to provide low cost water quality testing and education on household system maintenance to Virginian families reliant on private drinking water supplies (i.e. wells, springs, and cisterns). Through this programming, homeowners with chronic water quality problems and few financial resources are introduced to the Southeast Rural community Assistance Project (SERCAP) which provides technical assistance, grants, and low interest loans to Virginian families to improve on-site water and wastewater systems.

Current Projects

• Characterizing PFAS contamination in private wells
• Evaluating commercial POU filter effectiveness in metals removal from homes served by private wells

Selected Recent Publications

(* undergraduate student, ** graduate student, *** post-doc)

• Hohweiler, K., L. Krometis, E. Ling, K. Xia. 2024. Incidence of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in private drinking water supplies in Southwest Virginia, USA. Science of the Total Environment. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172539
• Cohen, A., P. Vikesland, A. Pruden, L. Krometis., L. Lee, A. Darling, M. Yancey, M. Helmick, R. Singh, R. Gonzalez, M. Meit, M. Degen, M. Taniuchi. 2024. Making waves: The benefits and challenges of responsibly implementing wastewater-based surveillance for rural communities. Water Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.121095 
• Patton, H., L. Krometis, E. Ling, A. Cohen, E. Sarver. 2024. Faucet-mounted point-of-use drinking water filters to improve water quality in households served by private wells. Science of the Total Environment. 906: 167252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167252   
• Darling, A., H. Patton, M. Rasheduzzaman, R. Guevara, J. McCray, L. Krometis, A. Cohen. 2023. Microbiological and chemical drinking water contaminants and associated health outcomes in rural Appalachia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Science of the Total Environment 164036: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164036 
• Smith, E., L. Krometis, J. Czuba, K. Kolivras. 2023. Land cover and community water system characteristics as predictors of Safe Drinking Water Act violations in Central Appalachia, USA. Science of the Total Environment 1;858(Pt2):159726  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159726
• Wind, L., I. Keenum, S. Gupta, P. Ray, K. Knowlton, M. Ponder, W. C. Hession, A. Pruden, L. Krometis. 2021. Integrated Metagenomic Assessment of Multiple Pre-harvest Control Points on Lettuce Resistomes at Field-Scale. Frontiers in Microbiology 18: 683410. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.683410  
• Wind, L., L. Krometis, C. Hession, A. Pruden. 2021. Cross-comparison of methods for quantifying antibiotic resistance in agricultural soils amended with dairy manure and compost. Science of the Total Environment. 766: 144321. DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144321 
• Maxcy-Brown, J., M. A. Elliott, L. Krometis, K. D. White, J. Brown, U. Lall. 2021. Right in Our Backyard: Untreated Wastewater Discharges from Rural Homes in the United States. Water Research. 190: 116647. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116647 
• Angermeier, P., L. Krometis, M. Stern, T. Hemby. 2021. Exploring relationships among stream health, human well-being, and demographics in Virginia. Ecological Indicators 121: 107194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107194 
• Marcillo, C., G. Garcia Prado, N. N. Copeland, L. Krometis. 2020. Drinking water quality and consumer perceptions of contamination at the point-of-use in San Rafael Las Flores, Guatemala. Water Practice and Technology 15 (2): 374–385 https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2020.025
• Marcillo, C. and L. Krometis. Small Towns, Big Challenges: Does Rurality Influence Safe Drinking Water Act Compliance? 2019. AWWA Water Science 1(1): e1120.  https://doi.org/10.1002/aws2.1120
• Krometis, L., H. Patton, A. Wozniak, E. Sarver. 2019. Water scavenging from roadside springs in Appalachia. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education. 166(1): 46-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1936-704X.2019.03301.x

Selected Recent Funding

• 2022-2024. USGS. Characterizing prevalence and risk factors of PFAS in rural private water supplies. $250,000 (PI)
• 2021-2026. NSF. Convergence at the Interfaces of Policy, Data Science, Environmental Science and Engineering to Combat the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance. $3,000,000 (co-PI)
• 2020-2023. Virginia Environmental Endowment (VEE). Identifying key challenges in maintaining water quality for households dependent on private water supplies in Southwest Virginia. $97,731 (PI)
• 2020-2021. VT Pandemic Rapid Response Grant. Best practices to support K-12 STEM remote learning in underserved communities. $34,192. (PI)
• 2018-2020. Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). A Program Evaluation of ARC’s Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Projects, FY 2009 - FY 2016. $250,000 (co-PI; joint proposal – VT PI)
• 2017-2019. NIH. Spatiotemporal analysis of adverse birth outcomes in Central Appalachia. $426,177 (co-PI)
• 2017-2021. USDA. Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates: Place-based training for performing and communicating interdisciplinary science at the crossroads of water and society. $278,911 (co-PI)
• 2015-2017. USDA. Effective Strategies for Mitigating Antibiotic Resistance. $2,250,000 (co-PI)