Dozens of hazardous material releases, both large and small, occur in every city every year involving hundreds of different chemicals. Public concern over the health risks posed by these releases has grown profoundly in the last 30 years. Laws regulating cleanup and public disclosure have become increasingly stringent since the 1970s, but the demand for full public disclosure has compelled federal and state authorities to make even more detailed records publicly accessible. Obstacles to the review of public documents, sometimes due to budgetary constraints, have perpetuated the perception that these records are being shielded from general scrutiny. While the prospect of minor releases being intensely scrutinized by all interested parties is not always reassuring to local municipal and health officials, this degree of candor is likely to remove much suspicion and mistrust. A relational database has been developed in Microsoft Access97 that records street addresses, regulatory tracking numbers, chemical quantities and identities reported, codes and laws invoked, physical structures and activities on the release site, deed restrictions due to contamination, and other remarks. Employing the full capabilities of this database allows queries across any data category (e.g sites with arsenic releases exceeding a specific threshold that have not been abated and located within 1,000 feet of a specific address). This resource will initially be utilized by municipal staff to track the proper and timely remediation of affected properties and to assist in urban planning tasks. Universal access through the city's web site will be the eventual goal of this project.
Learning Objectives: Observer will be able to: 1. Recognize the utility of a hazardous waste database covering his/her own community. 2. Identify necessary types of chemical data, ownership information, street address coordinates, and regulatory information most valuable for public identification of areas and chemicals of concern. 3. Apply the general database design being presented to structure their own projects
Keywords: Hazardous Waste, Geographic Information Systems
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Camridge Public Health Department
& Cambridge Health Alliance
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.