Operationalizing Ecosystem Services Endpoints and Assessment Tools for Supporting Risk Assessments in Contaminated Site Cleanups
Cleanup of contaminated sites focuses on activities needed to eliminate risks of contaminants to human health and the environment. As part of necessary efforts during contaminated site cleanups, an ecological risk assessment (ERA) is conducted to examine the extent of potential contamination and evaluate risks to the environment. In the Superfund context, an ecological risk assessment is a qualitative or quantitative appraisal of the actual or potential impacts of contaminants from a hazardous waste site on plants and animals other than humans and domesticated species (USEPA, 1997).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been applying ecosystem goods and services (EGS) concepts – the benefits we get from nature – in contaminated site cleanups for more than a decade. Recently, an EPA Superfund Technical Liaison Research (STLR) project focused on the incorporation of existing EPA/Office of Research and Development (ORD) EGS tools and concepts into the established ERA process. This effort examined potential strategies for employing EGS tools and concepts to enhance potential ERA outputs.
Although ecological and human health risk assessments are largely separate undertakings, one distinctive feature of EGS is that they are able to crosswalk ecosystem quality to human health and well-being. As such, EGS can provide a profound enhancement to any assessment because they bridge the ecosystem-human health divide. Thus, incorporating EGS into the ERA process has the potential to improve the environmental and socio-economic outcomes of contaminated site cleanup. As such, there is a need for site-specific examples that incorporate EGS into the ERA process for risk assessors and other technical staff to be able to routinely incorporate nature’s benefits to humans into the investigation, analysis, risk assessment, and remedial decisions of hazardous waste sites. In order to effectively incorporate EGS into the hazardous waste site remedial process, risk assessors will need the buy-in, support, and understanding of their project managers and upper management, and in some cases, resources provided by federal and private contractors.
Overall, these tools and approaches could be useful for ERAs in contaminated sites to achieve better outcomes and enhance community engagement and support. Until recently, there had been no EGS-focused coordination or training for ERA practitioners, Remedial Project Managers, Community Involvement Coordinators, etc. Future work will focus on providing site-specific examples of incorporating EGS concepts and tools into ERAs. Future work should focus on providing site-specific examples of incorporating EGS concepts and tools into ERAs focused on: (1) developing real site examples of operationalizing certain EGS-based tools, models, and assessment endpoints in ERAs conducted at Superfund fund-lead sites; and (2) providing evidence and framework for others, including state and tribal environmental agencies, to potentially utilize these examples at Responsible Party (RP)-led Superfund sites and regional Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) sites. Additional outreach to relevant local, state, and federal stakeholders on EGS tools development and application at hazardous waste sites should be conducted. Additionally, trainings and informational webinars should be developed and conducted to provide more awareness of EGS tools, their potential benefits, and examples of their applications.