Davyda Hammond

Tools available to communities for conducting cumulative exposure and risk assessments.

This paper summarizes and assesses over 70 tools that could aid with gathering information and taking action on environmental issues related to community-based cumulative risk assessments (CBCRA). Information on tool use, development and research needs, was gathered from websites, documents, and CBCRA program participants and researchers, including 25 project officers who work directly with community groups. The tools were assessed on the basis of information provided by project officers, community members, CBCRA researchers, and by case study applications. Tables summarize key environmental issues and tool features: (1) a listing of CBCRA-related environmental issues of concern to communities; (2) web-based tools that map environmental information; (3) step-by-step guidance documents; (4) databases of environmental information; and (5) computer models that simulate human exposure to chemical stressors. All tools described here are publicly available, with the focus being on tools developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. These tables provide sources of information to promote risk identification and prioritization beyond risk perception approaches, and could be used by CBCRA participants and researchers. The purpose of this overview is twofold: (1) To present a comprehensive, though not exhaustive, summary of numerous tools that could aid with performing CBCRAs; and (2) To use this toolset as a sample of the current state of CBCRA tools to critically examine their utility and guide research for the development of new and improved tools.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST) and its potential use for environmental justice efforts.

OBJECTIVES Our primary objective was to provide higher quality, more accessible science to address challenges of characterizing local-scale exposures and risks for enhanced community-based assessments and environmental decision-making. METHODS After identifying community needs, priority environmental issues, and current tools, we designed and populated the Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST) in collaboration with stakeholders, following a set of defined principles, and considered it in the context of environmental justice. RESULTS C-FERST is a geographic information system and resource access Web tool under development for supporting multimedia community assessments. Community-level exposure and risk research is being conducted to address specific local issues through case studies. CONCLUSIONS C-FERST can be applied to support environmental justice efforts. It incorporates research to develop community-level data and modeled estimates for priority environmental issues, and other relevant information identified by communities. Initial case studies are under way to refine and test the tool to expand its applicability and transferability. Opportunities exist for scientists to address the many research needs in characterizing local cumulative exposures and risks and for community partners to apply and refine C-FERST.

Seasonal effects in land use regression models for nitrogen dioxide, coarse particulate matter, and gaseous ammonia in Cleveland, Ohio

Abstract Passive ambient air sampling for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), coarse particulate matter (PMc), and gaseous ammonia (NH 3 ) was conducted at 22 monitoring sites, a compliance site, and a background site in the Cleveland, Ohio, USA area during summer 2009 and winter 2010. This air monitoring network was established to assess intra–urban gradients of air pollutants and evaluate the impact of traffic and urban emissions on air quality. Method evaluations of passive monitors, which were weeklong in duration for NO 2 and PMc and two–weeklong for NH 3 , demonstrated the ability of the NO 2 and NH 3 monitors to adequately measure air pollution concentrations, while the precision of the PMc sampler showed the need for improvement. Seasonal differences were obvious from visual inspection for NO 2 (higher in winter) and NH 3 (higher in summer) but were less apparent for PMc levels. Land use regression models (LURs) revealed spatial gradients for NO 2 and PMc from traffic and industrial sources. A strong summer/winter seasonal influence was detected in the LURs, with season being the only significant predictor of NH 3 . Explicit use of summer and winter seasons in the LURs revealed both a seasonal effect, per se , and also seasonal interaction with other predictor variables.

Assessment and Application of National Environmental Databases and Mapping Tools at the Local Level to Two Community Case Studies

Communities are concerned over pollution levels and seek methods to systematically identify and prioritize the environmental stressors in their communities. Geographic information system (GIS) maps of environmental information can be useful tools for communities in their assessment of environmental-pollution-related risks. Databases and mapping tools that supply community-level estimates of ambient concentrations of hazardous pollutants, risk, and potential health impacts can provide relevant information for communities to understand, identify, and prioritize potential exposures and risk from multiple sources. An assessment of existing databases and mapping tools was conducted as part of this study to explore the utility of publicly available databases, and three of these databases were selected for use in a community-level GIS mapping application. Queried data from the U.S. EPAs National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, Air Quality System, and National Emissions Inventory were mapped at the appropriate spatial and temporal resolutions for identifying risks of exposure to air pollutants in two communities. The maps combine monitored and model-simulated pollutant and health risk estimates, along with local survey results, to assist communities with the identification of potential exposure sources and pollution hot spots. Findings from this case study analysis will provide information to advance the development of new tools to assist communities with environmental risk assessments and hazard prioritization.

Cardiovascular impacts and micro-environmental exposure factors associated with continuous personal PM2.5 monitoring

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA) Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) has provided extensive data on human exposures to a wide variety of air pollutants and their impact on human health. Previous analyses in the DEARS revealed select cardiovascular (CV) health outcomes such as increase in heart rate (HR) associated with hourly based continuous personal fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposures in this adult, non-smoking cohort. Examination of time activity diary (TAD), follow-up questionnaire (FQ) and the continuous PM2.5 personal monitoring data provided the means to more fully examine the impact of discreet human activity patterns on personal PM2.5 exposures and changes in CV outcomes. A total of 329 343 min-based PM2.5 personal measurements involving 50 participants indicated that ∼75% of these total events resulted in exposures <35 μg/m3. Cooking and car-related events accounted for nearly 10% of the hourly activities that were identified with observed peaks in personal PM2.5 exposures. In-residence cooking often resulted in some of the highest incidents of 1 min exposures (33.5–17.6 μg/m3), with average peaks for such events in excess of 209 μg/m3. PM2.5 exposure data from hourly based personal exposure activities (for example,, cooking, cleaning and household products) were compared with daily CV data from the DEARS subject population. A total of 1300 hourly based lag risk estimates associated with changes in brachial artery diameter and flow-mediated dilatation (BAD and FMD, respectively), among others, were defined for this cohort. Findings indicate that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposures resulted in significant HR changes between 3 and 7 h following the event, and exposure to smells resulted in increases in BAD on the order of 0.2–0.7 mm/μg/m3. Results demonstrate that personal exposures may be associated with several biological responses, sometimes varying in degree and direction in relation to the extent of the exposure.