Grantee Research Project Results
Advancing Community Resilience to Cumulative Climate Impacts in the Mystic River Watershed (ACRES)
EPA Grant Number: R840480Title: Advancing Community Resilience to Cumulative Climate Impacts in the Mystic River Watershed (ACRES)
Investigators: Levy, Jonathan , Nori-Sarma, Amrutasri A , Cesare, Nina , Fabian, M. Patricia , Lane, Kevin J , Milando, Chad , Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen , Spangler, Keith , Wormser, Julie , Garate, Melanie
Current Investigators: Levy, Jonathan , Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen , Lane, Kevin J , Nori-Sarma, Amrutasri A , Cesare, Nina , Fabian, M. Patricia , Milando, Chad , Spangler, Keith , Wormser, Julie , Garate, Melanie
Institution: Boston University , Mystic River Watershed Association
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: November 1, 2022 through May 12, 2025
Project Amount: $1,349,151
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: Watersheds , Endocrine Disruptors , Environmental Justice , Human Health
Objective:
Greater Boston’s Mystic River Watershed (Mystic Watershed) is the most highly urbanized watershed in New England, and local low-income BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities are increasingly at risk of climate-exacerbated urban heat islands, coastal and inland flooding, and numerous sources of active and brownfield chemical exposures. The proposed study partners Boston University (BU) researchers with Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) staff who facilitate the Resilient Mystic Collaborative (RMC). We will engage a variety of stakeholders in ongoing discussions of priority concerns and proposed climate resilience solutions, and we will combine stakeholder knowledge with geolocated data to inform communities of climate and chemical hazards and the health benefits of solutions.
Approach:
First, using a novel multi-stressor health impact assessment (HIA) framework, we will encode community insights into a high-resolution geospatial database characterizing chemical exposures, vulnerability, and geographic / sociodemographic co-occurrence of hazards. Second, we will develop impact models to highlight locations prone to cumulative climate risks and chemical exposures. Third, we will use multi-stressor epidemiological analyses to evaluate conjoint or cascading hazards to vulnerable people and neighborhoods. Finally, we will use our findings to refine hazardscapes and to inform policies and investments to protect people’s health.
Expected Results:
Our project will provide the residents and leaders of the 20 municipalities in the RMC with a high-resolution geospatial database and mapping tool that is readily responsive to community interests and concerns. The tool will be used by the RMC to prioritize operational and capital improvements needed to prevent and decrease chemical exposures and improve climate resilience among vulnerable people and neighborhoods over time. It will also allow RMC communities to include non-financial estimates of health benefits, including equity, in the benefit-cost analyses needed to secure the public funding needed to make these investments. The methods and databases we develop can be applied in communities across the United States.
Publications and Presentations:
Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 5 publications for this projectJournal Articles:
Journal Articles have been submitted on this project: View all 1 journal articles for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
air; risk assessment; elderly; ethnic groups; cumulative effects; particulate matter; nitrogen dioxide; community-based; engineering; social science; epidemiology; modeling; geographic information systems; Northeast; EPA Region 1; Environmental JusticeProgress 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.