Handbook on Indicators of Community Vulnerability to Extreme Events: Considering Sites and Waste Management Facilities
EPA announced the availability of the final report, Handbook on Indicators of Community Vulnerability to Extreme Events: Considering Sites and Waste Management Facilities, which describes how to select, develop, map, and analyze indicators to screen for community vulnerabilities to potential contaminant releases from contaminated sites and waste management facilities.
Citation:
U.S. EPA. Handbook on Indicators of Community Vulnerability to Extreme Events: Considering Sites and Waste Management Facilities. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-23/175, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
The Handbook supports state and local decision-makers in developing and prioritizing targeted mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and response strategies to prepare for and prevent negative health and environmental outcomes from accidental contaminant releases from contaminated sites and waste management facilities.
Description:
The Handbook provides a conceptual framework and indicators to assess the indirect impacts of extreme events (e.g., extreme heat, floods, drought, wildfires) on communities through potential exposure to contaminant releases from nearby contaminated sites and waste management facilities. The indicator approach may assist regional, state, and local managers in identifying and prioritizing communities that may be impacted the most, and in focusing preparedness, response, recovery, and climate adaptation planning on areas that are least resilient to extreme events.
The methods presented provide a way to (1) identify areas that are potentially vulnerable and identify the source(s) of vulnerabilities, (2) track and monitor contaminated sites and waste management facilities, including those of local interest, and (3) evaluate and communicate how extreme events may impact contaminated sites, waste management facilities, and nearby communities. Decision-makers can use the results to develop and prioritize targeted strategies (e.g., adaptation, mitigation, resilience, response) to prepare for and prevent potentially deleterious health and environmental impacts from contaminant releases.
URLs/Downloads:
Handbook on Indicators of Community Vulnerability to Extreme Events: Considering Sites and Waste Management Facilities (PDF, 280 pp, 5280 KB, about PDF)Fact Sheet: Handbook on Indicators of Community Vulnerability to Extreme Events: Considering Sites and Waste Management Facilities (PDF, 2 pp, 274 KB, about PDF)
Fact Sheet: Handbook on Indicators of Community Vulnerability to Extreme Events: Considering Sites and Waste Management Facilities (PDF, 2 pp, 274 KB, about PDF)