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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Amy L. Stuart, PhD, Chantal Braithwaite, and Fritz Breckner. Environmental and Occupational Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, MDC 56, Tampa, FL 33612-3805, 813-974-6632, astuart@hsc.usf.edu

Outdoor air pollution concentrations can regularly vary over small scales. This can lead to increased exposures for people living, working, and studying near air emissions sources, such as large roads and industrial facilities. Neighborhoods near sources can often disproportionately consist of ethnic minorities or populations of lower socioeconomic levels, potentially leading to health disparities. Regulatory air pollution monitoring networks generally characterize exposures at city and county scales, but may be too sparsely located to represent neighborhood scale variations in exposures. Hence, regulatory planning based on these networks may not be protective of health for affected communities. In this study, we perform a preliminary analysis of the potential for health disparities due to localized exposures to air pollution in Tampa, FL. Using ArcGIS mapping, we compare 1) locations of air pollution monitoring sites in Tampa, 2) measured concentrations of NOx, PM10, and PM2.5, 3) locations of major roadways, 4) locations of industrial air emissions sources, and 5) zip-code level population demographics from the year 2000 U.S. census (focusing on income-levels and minority populations). We use this analysis to evaluate the representativeness of monitoring data for neighborhoods of demographic interest, to determine the potential for health disparities to disadvantaged populations and to find locations of interest for needed local monitoring and further study.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the interaction between air pollution and health disparities at the local level.

Keywords: Air Quality, Environmental Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered