1. Introduction to Superfund
UNC Superfund Research Program
Sarah Yelton, M.S.
Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

2. Central Questions What is a hazardous waste site?
What is a Superfund Site?
How can you identify these sites in your community?
How is hazardous waste cleaned up?
How can you incorporate Superfund topics into your classroom?

3. According to the EPA…
One in four Americans lives within 4 miles of a hazardous waste site, yet many US citizens are unaware of these sites and their implications for human health.
To search for EPA clean-up sites in your community:

4. Cleanups in My Community
a mapping and listing tool that shows where pollution is being or has been cleaned up under EPA's Superfund, RCRA and/or Brownfields cleanup programs.

5. What is Superfund?
Also known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Established by Congress in 1980 to clean up the country’s worst hazardous waste sites;
Locates, investigates, cleans up and monitors hazardous waste sites throughout the US;
Works with communities to return hazardous waste sites to safe and productive sites;
Administered through the Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation with state and tribal governments.
Source: EPA,

6. What is a Superfund Site?
“A Superfund site is any land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment.”
- US Environmental Protection Agency

7. The ATSDR 2013 Substance Priority List
ARSENIC
LEAD
MERCURY
VINYL CHLORIDE
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS
BENZENE
CADMIUM
BENZO(A)PYRENE
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
These substances are most commonly found at facilities on the National Priorities List (NPL) and are determined to pose the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity and potential for human exposure at these NPL sites.

8. Toxic Chemicals Can: Interact with macromolecules within the body
Impair or inhibit metabolic processes
Induce mutations in DNA (mutagenic)
May increase the risk of cancer by altering cellular metabolism or damaging DNA directly (carcinogenic)
Impair reproduction
Induce birth defects (teratogenic)

9. How do we measure contaminants?
The concentration of a contaminant in water or soil is often reported in parts or million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb).
Toxic chemicals present in even ppm or ppb amounts can be harmful to human health.

10. Bioaccumulation vs Biomagnification
Concentration of a pollutant within an organism
Body Burden refers to the amount of pollution present in an organism
Pollution of the human body begins before birth
Biomagnification
Concentration of a pollutant within a food chain
PCBs, DDT, Mercury, Arsenic, Dioxin

12. National Priority List (NPL) Superfund Sites
Site Status as of July 22, 2014
51 sites proposed for the NPL
1319 NPL sites
1158 NPL sites with physical cleanup construction completed
382 deleted sites

13. National Priority List of Superfund sites (July 2014)
North Carolina
National Priority List of Superfund sites (July 2014)
42 sites: 39 final; 3 deleted

14. Hazardous Waste: How do we Clean it Up?
“Dredging of Pollutants Begins in Hudson” New York Times, May 15, 2009

15. Superfund Clean Up Timeline
Discovery of Contaminated Site
Preliminary Assessment/Inspection
NPL Site Listing Process
Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study
Records of Decision
Remedial Design & Action
Construction Completion
NPL Deletion
Site Reuse/Redevelopment
=Clean-Up

16. Remediation of contaminated soil
Use a detergent to clean contaminated soil
Thermal desorption
Isolate contaminated area
Concrete dikes
Cap with impervious layers of plastic/clay
Bioremediation
Allow natural processes to breakdown contaminant
Biostimulation

17. Soil Remediation Challenges
Underground
Ground water moves 1 meter/yr
Many complex interactions with soil constituents
Expensive!

18. Remediation of contaminated water
Surface Water
Prevent spreading
Skim contaminant from surface
Mix and aerate to promote natural clean up
Clean up contaminated sediments
Dredge
Place a cover over them
Allow natural processes to break them down
Allow natural processes to breakdown contaminant

19. Remediation of contaminated water
Groundwater
Pump and treat and return to ground
Containment
Allow natural processes to breakdown contaminant

20. Who pays for Superfund cleanup?
Until 1995, funded by a tax on petroleum and chemical industries
$1.6 billion was collected and the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
Trust fund was exhausted by the end of FY 2003
Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) are first in line, if they can be identified
If no PRPs identified, funds can be appropriated by Congress out of general revenues

21. Superfund in the Classroom
“Students read background information about Superfund; discuss relevant Superfund sites in NC.”
Stacy Rinehart, 7th grade science, Wake County Schools
“Working in groups, students research different Superfund sites in NC. Students use worksheets to simplify the technical information.”
John Cardarelli, 6th grade science, Winston Salem Schools

22. Investigating a Superfund Site of Interest
Superfund Sites, EPA Region 4

23. Investigating a Superfund Site of Interest

25. Superfund in the Classroom
How might you use this website inquiry with students?
How might you incorporate this site into your class (e.g., guest speaker, etc.)?
How have you covered Superfund and/or hazardous waste topics with your class in the past?

26. UNC Superfund Research Program
Advances the scientific knowledge required to understand and reduce risks to human health associated with several of the highest priority chemicals regulated under the Superfund program, namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and chlorinated hydrocarbons (TCE and PCB).

27. UNC Superfund Research Program
Faculty Research Projects:
Biomedical Research Projects
Toxicity caused by Oxidative Stress (e.g., DNA Damage)
Toxicity of Trichloroethylene (TCE)
Cadmium Induced Toxicity
Cleanup (Remediation) Research Projects
Bioremediation of PAH contaminated soil
Bioavailability of toxic compounds in water and sediment

28. Biomedical Research
How dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs ) damage DNA
Metabolism of trichloroethylene (TCE) in the body
Influence of maternal cadmium exposure on newborn birth weight

29. Remediation (Cleanup) Research
How well PAH-contaminated soil is cleaned up using bioremediation
Development of passive sampling devices to measure longer term environmental exposures

30. Research Translation
Getting Science into Application

31. Dr. Rebecca Fry: Toxic Metals and Your Health
Studies the relationship between toxic metals in the environment and detrimental health effects, particularly in children.
Studying children’s health effects related to prenatal exposure to cadmium in North Carolina
With DHHS, mapped the presence of toxic metals in well water throughout the state

32. Toxic metals: Arsenic
Is there the potential for exposure in North Carolina?
Is there the potential for exposure in vulnerable populations?
Is there a risk of exposure from food?
How do metals impact our health?

33. Arsenic occurs naturally
 20th most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust
 A known multiple organ carcinogen
 Non-cancer endpoints

34. Sources of arsenic Treated wood Pesticides or herbicides
Industrial by-products
Smelting
Coal Emissions
Food
Juices, Rice, Seafood
Drinking water

35. Arsenic: continues to poison the water of millions around the globe
Smedley, Pauline L Sources and distribution of arsenic in groundwater and aquifers. In: Appelo, Tony, (ed.) Arsenic in Groundwater : a World Problem. British Geological Survey

36. More than 2. 3 million people in N
More than 2.3 million people in N. Carolina use water from private, unregulated wells
2009
75,000 people
>63,000 wells over 10 yrs
1436 wells >10 ppb
Hundreds > 50 ppb
Max=800 ppb
Sanders et al. Environ Int 2012
Smedley, Pauline L Sources and distribution of arsenic in groundwater and aquifers. In: Appelo, Tony, (ed.) Arsenic in Groundwater : a World Problem. British Geological Survey

37. Arsenic concentration (2009)
Sanders, A.P, et al. (2011) Arsenic in North Carolina: Public Health Implications, Environment International, Vol. 38  pp

38. Arsenic in NC (10 yr avg)

39. More than 2. 3 million people in N
More than 2.3 million people in N. Carolina use water from private, unregulated wells
There is the potential for toxic metals exposure via private well water
2009
75,000 people
>63,000 wells over 10 yrs
1436 wells >10 ppb
Hundreds > 50 ppb
Max=800 ppb
Sanders et al. Environ Int 2012
Smedley, Pauline L Sources and distribution of arsenic in groundwater and aquifers. In: Appelo, Tony, (ed.) Arsenic in Groundwater : a World Problem. British Geological Survey

40. Toxic metals are detectable in pregnant women in North Carolina
Mercury: 5 exceed pregnancy level of concern (3.5 ug/L)
Lead: 1 exceeds CDC pregnant women advisory (5 ug/dL)
Sanders et al. Plos One 2012

41. Toxic metals are detectable in pregnant women in North Carolina
Some of the samples from
pregnant women
in North Carolina
indicate exposure to toxic metals
Mercury: 5 exceed pregnancy level of concern (3.5 ug/L)
Lead: 1 exceeds CDC pregnant women advisory (5 ug/dL)
Sanders et al. Plos One 2012

42. Health effects of prenatal arsenic exposure
Newborn health effects related to maternal exposure to arsenic include increased risk of
spontaneous abortion,
stillbirth,
preterm birth,
low birth weight, and
infant mortality (reviewed by Vahter, 2008)
Prenatal and early life exposure to arsenic is associated with adult onset disease
Cancer and non-cancer endpoints
Gene expression is

43. What can YOU do? Test Your Well!

44. Making Superfund Relevant
Share relevant scientific concepts and societal issues with students
Connect industrial hazardous waste to household hazardous waste to help empower students to improve their immediate environment
Ample resources and curricula to support your teaching

47. Haz-ED

48. Citizen’s Guide to Clean Up Technologies

49. Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites

50. NY Times Topics: Superfund

51. Contact Information
Superfund Research Program
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Sarah Yelton
(919)