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Track: Health Care Services
Scott Harris
Division of Public Health
2 Peachtree Street
2nd Floor Annex - Room 2.509
Atlanta, GA 30303-3816
Telephone: 404-657-0601
Fax: 404-657-0602
E-mail: jsh0600@ph.dhr.state.ga.us
Evaluating Possible Human Exposure Pathways to Populations Relative to Hazardous Materials Sites
Defining Issue: Determining human exposure routes from hazardous materials sites is essential when evaluating public health risks due to the increasing amount of human exposure to harmful chemicals from hazardous waste sites and other instances of contaminant release to the environment. GIS Solution: The Flood Recovery Program is developing a method for assisting health department environmentalists in identifying populations at potential risk of exposure to materials from hazardous waste sites affected by the 1994 Tropical Storm Alberto flooding in Georgia. Methodology: The Flood Recovery Program has compiled individual site characteristics, topology, hydrography, highway maps, DOQs, GPS data (well locations, landfill areas, etc.), census data, and a number of other coverages. Using these coverages, health department environmentalists will analyze point data representing residential populations to identify the potential exposure pathways for hazardous materials from the sites to assess the existence of
possible high-risk areas. Hot links to specially prepared material data sheets for the site contaminants allow evaluation of the potential health hazard. Software: ArcView Version 3.0, Spatial Analyst Version 1.0, and Framemaker 5.0. Purpose of Paper: This paper describes the development of a method to assist in evaluating potential hazardous materials exposure and identifying potential populations at risk and how it is to be applied at the local health department level.
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