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Outdoor Air Emissions, Land Use, and Land Cover around Schools on Tribal Lands
Citation:
Barros, N., N. Tulve, K. Bailey, AND D. Heggem. Outdoor Air Emissions, Land Use, and Land Cover around Schools on Tribal Lands. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland, 16(1):36, (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16010036
Impact/Purpose:
• Tribal schools were in low developed urban areas around mainly arid and heavily forested lands. • Major sources of outdoor air emissions near schools were predominantly off tribal lands. • Closest major air emission source near a tribal school was a crude petroleum and natural gas extraction facility. • With the exception of extensive monitoring at one school, there were limited observations of different pollutants over a given year (<30). • First evaluation to link outdoor air emissions and land use and land cover around schools on U.S. tribal lands.
Description:
Children from tribes are more burdened with adverse respiratory well-being outcomes versus other U.S. children. The objectives of this study were to identify stressors from the built and natural environments for tribal school-aged children. Outdoor air concentrations around U.S. tribal schools were linked to National Emission Inventories; ecoregions and National Land Cover Database; and American Community Survey and school map layers. Nine school sites (seven tribes, five U.S. states) were in three ecoregions: North American Deserts, Northern Forests, and Mediterranean California. Closest emission sources were oil, gas, airport, and manufacturing facilities. Maximum annual outdoor air concentrations were measured for toluene at two schools (29 ppb and 15 ppb, 2011), located four miles from a solid waste landfill and eight miles from paperboard/saw mills. Maximum annual concentrations of metals in particulate matter 10 micrometers and smaller were highest for manganese (68 ng/m3, 2011). Schools were in mainly arid and heavily forested lands. Closest emission sources were predominantly off tribal lands. Measurements were limited (<30/year). Compared to schools off tribal lands, schools on tribal lands were further away from roadway sources. Future research may examine outdoor air quality around schools with more developed land and indoor air for tribal children’s total exposure.
