Grantee Research Project Results
Advancing Sanitation Justice: Linking climate-exacerbated nitrogen, cyanotoxins, and parasites with reimagined sanitation infrastructure and services in African-American communities
EPA Grant Number: R840478Title: Advancing Sanitation Justice: Linking climate-exacerbated nitrogen, cyanotoxins, and parasites with reimagined sanitation infrastructure and services in African-American communities
Investigators: Tarpeh, William A , Osman, Khalid , Flowers, Catherine Coleman , Mejia, Rojelio
Institution: Stanford University , Baylor University , Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice , Baylor College of Medicine
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: September 1, 2022 through August 31, 2025
Project Amount: $1,350,000
RFA: Cumulative Health Impacts at the Intersection of Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Vulnerable Populations/Lifestages: Community-Based Research for Solutions (2021) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice , Human Health
Objective:
The overarching goal of the proposed project is to advance the theory and practice of sanitation justice amidst intensifying climate stressors for marginalized U.S. communities. Although access to sanitation infrastructure (in the U.S. is widespread, it is still not universal, particularly for African-American communities suffering from vestigial exclusion. To meet the urgent needs of Black communities, we pursue three objectives: 1) comparing sanitation-related exposure to environmental contaminants for an urban and rural community; (2) prioritizing effects of climate change stressors on sanitation infrastructure and contaminant health impacts; and (3) designing and evaluating improved sanitation infrastructure to reduce exposure while maximizing economic viability and community engagement. We hypothesize that most contaminants exhibit higher prevalence in rural settings due to variable decentralized fixtures; that rural and urban Black communities suffer from climate-stressed sanitation infrastructure via distinct mechanisms; and that reimagined, co-created sanitation systems can interrupt exposure pathways and increase resilience for Black communities.
Approach:
Through collaboration with community organizations (e.g., CREEJ, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice led by Co-PI Flowers) and longstanding relationships with residents, we aim to examine and advance sanitation justice (equitable access, agency, and adaptive capacity) in two majority-Black communities: urban Mount Vernon, New York and rural Lowndes County, Alabama. Adequate sanitation reduces communities’ exposure to several contaminants in water and soil, including pathogens and chemical contaminants. We focus here on three parasites (hookworm, Toxocara canis, Toxocara cati) and three chemical contaminants (nitrate, ammonia, cyanotoxins) associated with poverty and inadequate sanitation. Contaminant monitoring will be used to inform effective interventions and community advocacy, to correlate increased temperature and rainfall with contaminant transport, and to guide selection of modified sanitation infrastructure (with community input) for long-term resilience.
Expected Results:
The proposed work contributes to understanding of sanitation-related exposure in the context of climate change for Black communities while co-creating aspirational resource-oriented sanitation systems. Outputs of this work include correlations between demographics and contaminant exposure; open-source datasets on sanitation quality and climate resilience; and community-driven pilot tests of novel sanitation solutions. Outcomes of this work include enhanced community agency via improved risk assessment for underserved populations relative to sanitation infrastructure; enhanced adaptive capacity by prioritizing similar communities and informing planning efforts; and enhanced sanitation access via community and economic assessment of promising systems. Activities will also enable capacity building (e.g., community operator training), broadening participation of Black students in wastewater treatment industries, and impact in several fields (e.g., environmental health, chemical engineering, community-based research).
Supplemental Keywords:
algal blooms, decentralized sanitation, environmental justice, environmental sensing, on-site sanitation, resource recovery, urine separation
Progress and Final Reports:
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.