Applying a Community-based Participatory Research Framework to Map and Estimate Soil Contamination Levels in North Charleston, South Carolina [POSTER]

Background: The Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities (LAMC) neighborhoods host various hazardous waste sites, are surrounded by heavily trafficked roadways, and may be further impacted by the expansion of the Port of Charleston. These communities are already differentially burdened by environmental hazards; therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a baseline soil assessment to determine the magnitude of contamination in North Charleston, South Carolina (SC) prior to the construction of the new Port terminal.

Methods: Community members were recruited to collect soil samples in Union Heights, Accabee, and Chicora Cherokee neighborhoods. Samples were collected near heavily trafficked roadways, background and major industrial sites, brownfields, Superfund sites, schools, and community centers. HAZWOPER trained participants were divided into teams consisting of a sampler, mapper, documenter, and decontaminator. Thirteen pollutants were derived from 51 stations in which mean, 5th, 95th, and additional quartiles of each pollutant were calculated. Correlation and respective significance levels were estimated between pollutants and minimum and maximum concentrations were documented.Screening level data were downloaded from the EPA and matched by CAS number with pollutants measured in the samples.

Results: The following pollutants were detected: Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Magnesium, Manganese, Mercury, Nickel, and Zinc. Pollutants demonstrated a positive skewed distribution due to outliers. Copper and Nickel concentrations had the highest correlation at 0.99. Zinc had a higher correlation with other pollutants than other metals while Arsenic was more independent than other pollutants. The Meeting & Spruill location had a maximum measurement of seven pollutants which was the worst of all stations. Arsenic and Lead had higher concentrations than the residential screening level. Arsenic measurements from all stations had a higher concentration than the residential screening level and 92% were higher than the industrial screening level. There were 5.7% of stations with a higher Lead concentration than the residential screening level and 1.9% of stations had a higher Lead concentration than the industrial screening level.

Conclusion: The high concentration and array of contaminants identified in soil samples may be indicative of human exposure to environmental hazards in LAMC neighborhoods.