Yale to run hydrologic model and community survey in East Palestine as residents press for more soil and well testing

Yale University researchers on Monday described a two-part water research project for East Palestine Village aimed at addressing community concerns about drinking-water safety years after a 2023 train derailment.

Dr. Nicole Diesel said the Yale team will combine a community survey with a hydrologic model that maps contamination vulnerability across the study domain, not just at previously monitored points. "What we can do is perform a state of the art hydrological model ... it will provide information everywhere in the study domain," Diesel said.

The community survey will be piloted with adult residents living near the derailment area and will ask about observed changes in water (visual, taste), drinking and bathing behaviors, and locations of concern. Investigators said the survey will be available online and on paper to maximize participation and that results will be shared in aggregate with the public.

Diesel and her colleagues said modeling can highlight areas with higher probability of water contamination even if those areas are farther from the derailment site than other monitored locations; the maps will be made public so officials and residents can prioritize monitoring and interventions.

During the listening session, multiple residents urged expanded soil sampling and said private well test results should be included. One resident offered his well-testing results and organizers asked residents to bring paper records to the Weigh Station study office so researchers can incorporate them into analyses.

Researchers said they will use survey responses to prioritize chemicals and locations for modeling and that water model outputs could feed exposure and health assessments depending on resources. They aim to launch the pilot survey within about a month and will accept both online and paper submissions.