“Opportunities for citizen science in reducing exposure to environmental hazards: Lead in soil and arsenic in well-water”

“Opportunities for citizen science in reducing exposure to environmental hazards:
Lead in soil and arsenic in well-water”

with Lex van Geen and Franziska Landes
Originally presented 27 Jan 2018

 

          

Contamination of water and soil is often spatially very heterogeneous. Although this complicates prediction, detailed mapping and broad access to this information can reduce human exposure by encouraging avoidance and providing the information to remove or isolate the contamination. In rural Bangladesh for example, although millions of wells are contaminated with high arsenic levels, a safe well is often located within walking distance of a contaminated one (vanGeen et al., WHO Bulletin 2002). In small towns across Peru, backyards and even playgrounds built on mine tailings can be highly contaminated with lead while other surface soil is not (van Geen et al., WHO Bulletin 2012). Imagine if people in these areas had access to a field kit to collect their own data, record it, and share it with their communities.

Join us for Earth2Class on Saturday Jan 27, 2018 to learn more about Bangladesh and Peru. You will also have the opportunity to analyze in class up to two soil samples of your choosing. Reading this paper (Cheng et al., Soil Science 2015) and this Earth Institute blog  (http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2017/10/09/many-backyards-in-brooklyn-neighborhood-are-contaminated-with-high-levels-of-lead/ ) about lead in New York City soil may give you ideas about where and what to sample.

All you need is a couple of ziplock bags, a spoon, and a smartphone to enter sample and site information by clicking on this link in your browser: https://ee.kobotoolbox.org/x/#YVXw After analyzing the samples with you by two different methods, we will produce together an interactive map of the soil lead data that you’re willing to share with the class. Our hope is that this experience will give you ideas for sending your students into the field to conduct their own sampling and testing.

Alexander (Lex) van Geen is a Lamont Research Professor in the Geochemistry Division whose recent focus has been interactions between the environment and human health. Lex leads a suite of projects that examine the impact of toxic metals, such as arsenic and lead, on health crises in countries around the world. He discussed some of his early research in the May 2003 E2C, “Arsenic in the Groundwater.”  Lex has served as adviser to dozens of PhD, MS, and high school students exploring these issue. Learn more through his website: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~avangeen/index.html.

Franziska Landes is a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Earth and Environmental Science program at Columbia University. She is interested in environmental geochemistry and public health, especialy the potential for community and public participation in science to reduce exposure to environmental contaminants while increasing our knowledge of environmental contaminants, public awareness of relevant health information, and improve science literacy. Her current work involves developing a field test kit for lead in soils and studying the impact of soil lead contamination in New York and Peru. After receiving her BSc from Jacobs University in Germany, she worked for two years at the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, conducting and reviewing environmental assessments and remediation plans for the Brownfields Program. (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/user/landes)

VIEW THE INTRODUCTORY SLIDE SHOW (PPTX)  (PDF)

VIEW LEX VAN GEEN’S SLIDE SHOW

                    

 

Related References and Resources

van Geen et al., “Promotion of well-switching to mitigate the current arsenic crisis in Bangladesh.” WHO Bulletin 2002

van Geen et al., “Lead exposure from soil in Peruvian mining towns: a national assessment supported by two contrasting examples.” WHO Bulletin 2012

New Jersey Private Wells Testing Act (PWTA)

Saunders, P.F., “Ambient Levels of Metals in NJ Soils.”

A Homeowner’s Guide to Arsenic in Drinking Water” (NJ DEP)

Cheng et al., “Trace Metal Contamination in New York City Garden Soils.” Soil Science 2015

Rosen, C.J.,  “Lead in the Home Garden and Urban Soil Environment”  U. Minn Extension

Cornell Cooperative Extension Lead Education

 

EPA “Getting Up to Speed: Groundwater Contamination”

“Lead”

Reuters Investigates
“Looking for Lead”

 

Related Earth2Class Workshops

“Arsenic in the Groundwaters of Bangladesh” with Lex Van Geen (May 2003)

“The Source and Solution to Groundwater Arsenic Contamination” with Benjamin Bostick (Mar 2015)

“Visualization of Groundwater Flow Using Interactive Sand Boxes, Links to Local and International Water Resources Issues” with Martin Stute (Feb 2011)

                    

                 

                  

 

 

MORE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES WILL BE ADDED SOON