Grantee Research Project Results
2021 Progress Report: Community-Driven Assessment of Environmental Health Risks in Vieques, Puerto Rico
EPA Grant Number: CR839978Title: Community-Driven Assessment of Environmental Health Risks in Vieques, Puerto Rico
Investigators: Estrada-Martínez, Lorena , Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen , Chen, Robert F , Colón-Carmona, Adan , Poynton, Helen C , Linde-Arias, Ana Rosa , Negrón, Rosalyn , Raciti, Antonio , Díaz-Vázquez, Liz , Gómez-Márquez, Jose , Rivera, Lorna , Hamad-Schifferli, Kimberly
Institution: University of Massachusetts - Boston , Boston University , University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras Campus
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: May 1, 2020 through April 30, 2023 (Extended to April 30, 2025)
Project Period Covered by this Report: May 1, 2021 through April 30,2022
Project Amount: $800,000
RFA: Addressing Environmental Concerns in Vieques, Puerto Rico Through Community Participatory Research (2019) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Human Health
Objective:
- To establish exposure to multiple contaminants through person-centered environmental assessments that account for intersecting exposure pathways over time as determined through community input.
- To establish a resident data monitoring and decision-making infrastructure through citizen science and participatory community engagement.
- To develop a plant-based remediation system for soil metals and train community members to implement it at appropriate sites.
Progress Summary:
Phase I: Building Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) Coalition
- Conducted seven Community-Academic Steering Committee (CASC) meetings between May 2021 and April 2022 and two in-person retreats in Vieques where we finalized the Memorandum of Understanding and CBPR principles (July 2021) and determined the health focus (April 2022).
- In Summer 2021, Dr. Estrada-Martínez led a 6-week visit to Vieques to build relationships with the community. We conducted two open-community meetings in Isabel II and Esperanza to introduce the project to the public at large and ask/answer questions.
Phase IIA: Human Health Assessment
- Conducted a comprehensive literature review of Viequenses' understanding of past and current contamination, development of diseases, and perspectives on the socioecological factors that continue to shape.
- Conducted focus groups (n = 4, plus 3 interviews using focus group guides) and interviews (n = 8) with a total of 36 people. The focus groups explored the contamination and disease concerns using maps. Based on the focus groups and interviews, we developed a preliminary conceptual model of exposure-related disease in Vieques.
- The timeline interviews engaged long-time residents and community leaders in structured recollections of major events and other developments in Vieques' history. The main purpose was to identify key events that will serve as anchors for the life event calendars that will be a core component of the human health assessments.
Phase IIB: Ecological Risk Assessment
- Conducted two feasibility studies to determine the test conditions for the Phase IIB project. First, we tested sediments from lagoons in Vieques to determine if the laboratory test organism Hyalella Azteca could survive a 96-h exposure, which was successful. Second, we tested the RNA extraction methods on crab samples collected from Vieques, PR during Summer 2021.
- Conducted an extensive literature review to determine levels and locations of contaminated sediment and biota on the island. We mapped these locations using Google Earth and included a summary of areas with high levels of organic or inorganic contaminants. This map provided a starting point for conversations with the community to determine the final sites for sediment collection.
- Submitted the Special Use Permit application to Fish and Wildlife and began developing a QAPP.
Phase III: Contaminant Assessment
- Developed Ampli block systems for detecting heavy metals and demonstrated preliminary results with Ni2+ and Pb2+ detection.
Phase IV: Phytoremediation
- Conducted an extensive literature review to identify plant species that can be used at research sites. The team performed a literature review of plant species with phytoremediation properties towards both heavy metals and organic chemical pollutants. Both Puerto Rican native and non-native plant species were considered. Determined to use Arabidopsis and tobacco, marigolds, sunflower, hemp, and Guinea grass. All six plant species will be utilized on experimental plots.
- In April 2022, 7 by 6-meter experimental plots were prepared at the National Wildlife Refuge (Isla Nena Composta) and farm La Semillera. However, due to drought conditions and lack of water on the Refuge (at La Composta), a pilot growth study was only planted/started on La Semillera.
Future Activities:
Phase I.
- Conduct 2-3 open community meetings (1 in Summer 2022, 2 in Fall 2022)
- Update the webpage to reflect ongoing activities and results
- Continue to have quarterly CASC meetings (more as needed)
Phase IIA.
- Finalize the Vieques-specific Life History Calendars and other instruments for the human health assessment (Summer 2022). Pilot test of the final instrument with Puerto Rican residents (early Fall 2022)
- Travel to Vieques to recruit and train interviewers for the human health assessment (Summer 2022)
- Participant recruitment (Fall 2022)
- Begin interviews (Fall 2022).
Phase IIB.
- We will collect sediment from nine lagoons or shores on the island of Vieques, PR.
- We will perform bioassays using sentinel species with the collected sediment to determine overall effects on biota.
- We will conduct RNAseq gene expression analysis on H. azteca exposed to the toxic sediment fractions to obtain gene expression signatures for the exposures.
Phase III.
- Identify chemistries that can be used in Ampli blocks to detect trinitrotoluene (TNT) which relies on amines that change color upon complexation with TNT. We are also exploring chemistries that can be used to detect PFAS.
- We will continue our work in developing a citizen science app that will allow volunteers to upload Ampli results into a geographic aggregator that will make results open and shareable.
- Citizen Science Ampli kits will be deployed during Year 3 in coordinating with a community outreach liaison in Vieques.
Phase IV.
- Execution of the first pilot study at both experimental sites (late summer and fall)
- Workshops with community members who will be assisting and collecting data (late summer and fall)
- Analysis of the first round of experiments and redesign and/or repeat experiments next summer
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 10 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), Nanosensors, PPGIS, TIE, iceberg modeling, Ampli, bioremediationRelevant Websites:
Ambiente, Salud, y Accion Comunitaria Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.