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325342
Michigan school children's proximity to leaking underground storage tanks and hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal sites


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Patricia Koman, MPP, PhD, School of Public Health, Environmental Health Sciences and Risk Science Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Richa Adhikari, MPH, University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Sara Adar, PhD, Epidemiology Department, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor
Byoung-Suk Kweon, PhD, MLA, Registered Landscape Architect, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College Park, MD
Paul Mohai, MS, PhD, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Michigan is updating its hazardous waste clean up criteria.  Current Michigan regulations use an age-adjusted receptor, averaging 6 years of childhood exposure and 24 years of adult exposure parameters.  These assumptions may underestimate actual exposures for children aged 7 to 18 years who spend more time outdoors with higher soil contact due to their play than adults.  Exposures from multiple sites are furthermore not considered, despite widespread legacy contamination. Based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency School Siting Guidelines and public data from Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, we performed a proximity analysis in ArcGIS to identify schools in Michigan that were within 500 meters from documented releases from underground storage tanks (USTs) and 1,600 meters (1 mile) from hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facilities. Of the 1,629,700 students attending 3,660 public and charter schools in Michigan in 2007, 547,400 students (33.6%) attended a school located within 500 meters from a leaking tank.  This reflects 36.2% of schools. Eight percent of Michigan public school children (131,900 students) attend 299 schools located closer than the EPA guideline to a TSD site.  For leaking tanks, the analysis did not show any disparities by race, gender or free/reduced lunch eligibility. For TSD facilities, a greater percentage of racial minority students and students eligible for free/reduced lunch attended schools near facilities (p-value<0.001) than would be predicted based on the overall population. No disparities were detected by student gender. Current regulatory exposure assumptions may not be adequately capturing the exposures of school-aged children.

Learning Areas:

Environmental health sciences
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss options to better characterize and prevent children's environmental exposures to hazardous chemical releases. Compare potential school age children's environmental exposures by race, gender, and eligibility for free or reduced school lunch programs.

Keyword(s): Environmental Health, Built Environment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: As an environmental scientist at US EPA for over 20 years, I have performed numerous impact analyses of major national environmental health policy and state policies. I have led national initiatives to reduce environmental exposures. Now at the University of Michigan, my research interests center around children's environmental health policy, air pollution, climate change, hazardous waste policy, and environmental justice.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality environmental health sciences Advisory Committee/Board

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.