Estimating Environmental Exposures for Unhoused Persons Living on CO Smelter Superfund Site
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Unhoused persons represent a vulnerable population that has been historically overlooked during risk assessment activities on urban CERCLA sites, and evaluating these exposures for risk assessment became a Region 08 Science Priority in 2023. In part, this oversight may be due to at least two significant data gaps: 1) lack of understanding of the nature and frequency of activities unhoused people undertake which may expose them to contaminated media; and, 2) lack of quantitative exposure factors relevant to this type of residential exposure, including virtually no information in the EPA Exposure Factors Handbook (EPA, 2011) regarding activities relevant to urban camping in or near riparian areas, such as exposures to surficial soils and surface waters while sleeping, cooking, cleaning, and washing. While the specific activities conducted by unhoused persons may vary from site to site, the fundamental human needs for food, shelter, and protection from the elements suggests that representative exposure factors may be broadly applicable to other unhoused populations as well as wilderness camping scenarios nationwide. This project aims to collect data on site-specific usage patterns as well as quantitative exposure factors for the unhoused persons present at the Colorado Smelter National Priority List site, Operable Unit 2 (OU2), in Pueblo, CO, to improve the parity of public health protection efforts for these underserved people. Pueblo has one of the largest populations of people experiencing homelessness in the state of Colorado, with >30 people counted as living in unsheltered conditions (OMNI, 2021), including young women and occasionally young children. There are approximately 30 campsites in OU2, which locals refer to as the “Jungle”. This slide presentation will be used for outreach to the local non-profit organizations and the health department to share information about the project and recruit them to work with EPA.