- A recent study evaluated how groundwater relates to risk for Parkinson’s disease.
- The study found that the age of groundwater and aquifer type may both impact risk for Parkinson’s.
- These risks are likely related to exposure to certain water contaminants.
- More research into specific contaminants is required, as well as exploration of prevention strategies.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic and nerve-damaging condition, with older adults more likely to be affected. A focus of recent research was how Parkinson’s disease risk was associated with groundwater.
A new study, whose results will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting on April 18-22, 2026, in Chicago and online, found that the age of water as well as the water source may affect risk for Parkinson’s disease.
Ultimately, some water may be more likely to be exposed to neurotoxins than others, and more research will be required to dig into specifics and how this can be prevented.
The full study is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Groundwater factors and Parkinson’s disease risk
This study was a population-based case-control study. It included 12,370 participants with Parkinson’s disease as well as over 1.2 million matched controls. Participants lived within a three-mile radius of over 1,000 groundwater sample sites.
Researchers looked at the age of groundwater, drinking water sources, and aquifer types. They used these to indirectly look at exposure to neurotoxins.
According to the US Geological Survey, aquifers are water-bearing rocks that can easily transmit water to springs and wells.
There are different types of aquifers that are named in part based on the type of rock present, such as sandstone aquifers or carbonate-rock aquifers. Researchers examined 21 main aquifers in their research.
Researchers determine water age based on the idea that water at a greater depth is older. This practice looks for tracers like naturally occurring isotopes and manufactured gases.
In general, younger water is more likely to have certain contaminants like pesticides that were introduced by people.
In the current study, researchers accounted for factors like participants’ urban or rural residence and air pollution in their research models.
Participants who got their drinking water from sources supplied by carbonate aquifers had a 24% higher risk for Parkinson’s disease than participants getting water from other aquifer types.
Older groundwater was associated with a lower risk for Parkinson’s disease but only with carbonate aquifers. In this case, with each one-standard deviation in water age, there was a 6.5% lower risk for Parkinson’s disease.
Overall, younger water in carbonate systems had a higher risk for Parkinson’s disease when researchers compared them “with those using Pleistocene-aged water,” which is older water.
Study author Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD, a health geographer and assistant professor at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ, explained for Medical News Today:
“We found that characteristics of groundwater in your town or city — such as the type of aquifer it comes from and the age of the water — are associated with differences in Parkinson’s disease risk. This suggests that environmental toxins in drinking water may play a role in Parkinson’s disease.”
In their presentation abstract, the authors note that, overall, “
