Grantee Research Project Results

2022 Progress Report: Building Community Resilience to Natural-disaster-Driven Contaminant Exposures Through System-level Risk Analysis, Management, and Readiness

EPA Grant Number: R840041
Title: Building Community Resilience to Natural-disaster-Driven Contaminant Exposures Through System-level Risk Analysis, Management, and Readiness
Investigators: Borsuk, Mark E. , Wilson, Sacoby M. , Hendricks, Marccus , Calder, Ryan
Current Investigators: Borsuk, Mark E.
Institution: Duke University , University of Maryland - College Park , Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Current Institution: Duke University
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: August 1, 2020 through July 31, 2023 (Extended to July 31, 2024)
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2021 through July 31,2022
Project Amount: $799,756
RFA: Contaminated Sites, Natural Disasters, Changing Environmental Conditions and Vulnerable Communities: Research to Build Resilience (2019) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Safer Chemicals , Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Objective:

1. To develop a generalizable and comprehensive risk analysis framework that links natural hazards and changing environmental conditions to the release, fate, and transport of contaminants.

2. To collaborate with community partners to identify factors that may modify exposure and vulnerability of certain populations and include such factors in our framework to holistically assess health risks.

3. To assist communities in translating scientific products into realistic and relevant management and readiness plans that promote community resilience to natural hazards.

Progress Summary:

After Covid-related delays in Year 1, we have been able to continue our work on modeling potential contaminant sources and exposures (Objective 1), while also advancing our progress working with our community partners to identify exposure and vulnerability factors (Objective 2). Despite this recent progress, however, we remain approximately 6-9 months behind schedule due to the initial delays.

We have three sets of outputs to report from Year 2:

1. We completed development of an original dataset of above-ground storage tanks (ASTs) from high-resolution orthorectified aerial imagery across the contiguous United States. This data set contains the geospatial coordinates, border vertices, and imagery of over 100,000 spherical pressure, closed roof, external floating roof, sedimentation tanks, and water towers from 48 states. This dataset is useful in its own right and is being made publicly available, but also serves as training data for our automated object detection model.

2. We further advanced and tested our machine-learning (ML) model for detection and classification of ASTs. This model uses state-of-the-art neural network algorithms to automate the process of locating and classifying ASTs from high-resolution orthorectified aerial imagery. These geospatial data will then be used for AST risk assessments in Year 3 of our project.

3. We held a full-day focus group in each of our two partner communities (North Charleston, SC, and Duplin County, NC) to discuss key contributors to potential contaminant exposure resulting from extreme weather events. The results were used to develop a wider survey of each population to obtain information for our modeling and toolkit development. Implementation of the survey will be occurring in Year 3.

Future Activities:

In Year 3 of the project, our emphasis will be on using the QRA approach and fate and transport models described in our proposal to parameterize our integrative graphical Bayesian network of disaster and contaminant transport events. This network will then be linked to a separate evacuation, exposure, and vulnerability model built with the input received from our community focus groups and survey. These results will be used to develop readiness toolkits in collaboration with our community partners.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 5 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

community-engaged research; total environment; sustainable and healthy communities; environmental justice; community readiness and resilience

Relevant Websites:

Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health Center Exit

Virginia Tech Public Health Research Exit

Borsuk Lab at Duke University Exit

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

The 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.