Environmental Justice & Well Water in North Carolina ENEC 698 – Capstone Presentation Fall 2017

Introduction & Background

RESEARCH QUESTION: Can socioeconomic status (SES) or environmental justice metrics such as race, education, and income predict private well contamination (natural or anthropogenic), test frequency, and test protocols? https://www.staffmanagement.com/bridging-the-gap-between-msp-sales-and-operations/ Taylor or Emma

Literature Review

Max. Contaminant Level (mg/L) Health Impacts Arsenic 0.010 Birth defects; cancer; respiratory issues (Sanders et al. 2014; Fry et al. 2012) Cadmium 0.005 Birth defects; kidney, bone, and lung disease (Sanders et al. 2014) Chromium 0.10 Kidney and liver damage; respiratory cancer (Zhitkovich et al. 2011) Lead 0.015 Birth defects; developmental issues; kidney damage (Sanders et al. 2014; Pieper 2017) Manganese 0.05 Birth defects; nervous system damage; kidney damage (Sanders et al. 2014) Emma

Sources of Contaminants Naturally Occurring v. Anthropogenic (Pieper et al. 2016; Zheng and Ayotte 2015; Polya and Middleton 2017) Sampling source can alter contaminants and their levels (Pieper et al. 2016) Emma Ruhl et al. (2012). The Impact of Coal Combustion Residue (CCR) Effluent on Water Resources: A North Carolina Example.

Water Quality Perception Issues Complacency & Normalcy → lack of a perceived problem → lack of regular testing (Poe and Bishop 1999; Zheng and Ayotte 2015) Lack of adequate education relating to groundwater (Timmerman et al. 2014; Dickerson et al. 2014; Flanagan et al. 2016) Disconnects between: Information producers and users (Flanagan et al. 2016) Research and policy (Timmerman et al. 2014) Emma

Water Quality Perception Issues Continued Organoleptics Readability of water quality reports (EPA mandated CCRs) Recommended to reduce number of words per sentence, avoid technical jargon, simplify vocabulary, and use images when possible. Federal Regulations (Katner 2016) Case study: Flint, MI Massachusetts environmental justice policy (2017) Taylor There is a concern over the importance of organoleptics in the perception of water quality because most of the inorganic contaminants discussed in our research are odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Previous experience with water also may create an optimism bias in that people who have been drinking from their well for years may not believe that their water could be contaminated if they are not experiencing negative health effects. Similarly, if individuals have previously had negative experiences with their water quality, they are more likely to believe that there is an issue with their water quality even when there is not. Roy (2015) found that the readability of water quality reports (EPA mandated CCRs) were not at a level that is accessible to a majority of Americans. This finding is confirmed by other similar studies. Katner, et al. (2016) found that several federal protocols were not followed in the case of Flint, Michigan, which put the community at risk of widespread lead contamination. Urgency in local and federal action is a major concern in poorer and largely minority communities. Mass EJ policy establishes a framework for determining the demographic conditions that constitute environmental justice concerns – 25% minority or suffering from english isolation; 25% with annual hh income at or below 65% of the state median

Environmental Justice Issues Income is a major predictor of well testing behavior (Flanagan 2016) Age, race, and SES are major indicators of municipal water/sewer disparities (Naman 2015) Treatment disparities between higher and lower SES households Treatment vs. bottled water Point-of-entry (POE) treatment vs. point-of-use (POU) treatment Implementation of partnerships between state and local agencies New Hampshire (Paul 2015) Taylor Since higher SES households, are already more likely to test their wells, educational outreach programs should be especially focused in targeting lower SES houserholds Flanagan – lower SES households were more likely to switch to bottled water instead of using a treatment system to improve water quality; bottled water is considered an unimproved drinking water source according to the WHO Spayd – POE treatment 8x more expensive than POU treatments; makes POE less accessible to low SES households, who will still suffer from exposure to contamination in water used for bathing, brushing teeth, etc. Paul – The partnership created factsheets, implemented educational outreach, created a forum and had the lab assist with community questions. Result of this partnership was a 3x increase in the number of water samples collected compared to the previous 6 years Similarly, Backer recommends drinking water surveillance programs to ensure the safety of drinking water for the 37 million Americans that rely on private wells for their water Lynch & Stretesky found that community groups largely improve environmental quality and enforcement efficiency, although there is a socioeconomic disparity in where these groups are located

Methods

(Meredith) for our research project we examined and researched the counties: Davidson, Iredell, Montgomery, Randolph, Rowan, and Stanly . These counties were chosen at the request of our client as they straddle the belt of naturally occuring arsenic. Additionally these were chosen in order to explore a potential correlation between well water contamination, existing natural and anthropogenic environmental risks, and demographic vulnerabilities.

Publically available well test results from 2009 through September 2017 were obtained from the North Carolina State Laboratory Public Health Environmental Sciences - Inorganic Chemistry database from our client, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).

As part of the data collection, name, address, city, zipcode, data collected, date reported, sample type, sample source, sampling point, arsenic concentration (mg/L), cadmium concentration (mg/L), chromium concentration (mg/L), lead concentration (mg/L), and manganese concentration (mg/L), were recorded when available. These contaminants were chosen based on the literature review, as manganese is common in well water, arsenic is a major concern in North Carolina, and chromium is a concern after recent coal ash spills.

Unavailable values were marked as “NA” and qualitative values were standardized in order to be used during statistical and geospatial examination. The response time was determined based on the time between the date collected value and the date reported value.

The geographical information system, ESRI’s ArcMap 10 The geographical information system, ESRI’s ArcMap 10.4 was utilized for geospatial examination. The collected data was geocoded using the geocoding tool. The well points were overlaid a county boundary shapefile. Additionally, a point shapefile was created merging various locally undesirable land uses including national pollutant discharge elimination system permitted sites, brownfield sites, superfund sites, and landfill sites. The proximity of contaminated well sites and these locally undesirable land uses were considered in the investigation for spatial patterns. Block demographic data, particularly percent black, percent low income, and percent high school diploma, was collected from the United States Census Bureau. The ModelBuilder tool was used in order to create various shapefiles based on contamination, response time, and qualitative difference in sample type, sample source, and sampling point. Patterns of contamination were investigated utilizing boolean operations and geoprocessing tools. Based on other findings several related maps were created (see following sections).

Statistical programs such as SPSS, Rstudio, chi square test, and stata were also used in order to determine any significance between the information we extracted. Looked at staticisla- predictive models, (used Stata)

The US Census Bureau, Data USA, flesch reading ease formula, and different counties health websites was used to analysis 3 main topics: (1) Readability of available environmental resources and reports published by the state, (2) Demographic and Environmental Justice indicators, and (3) Outreach for alerting citizens of potential environmental hazards in their well water. The differences in each county were analyzed and compared to the state level at large, as well as individually, which will be discussed in the next section. http://stldbt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Diverse-group-of-people.jpg https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Images/promo_images/icons/us-deloitte-data-usa-logo.jpg

Analysis

Population, Income, Age, Race, Language, Education County Population Median Household Income Median Age Race Language Education Davidson 163,867 $43,363 42 81% White 9% Black 7% Latino 92% English 6% Spanish 82%-HS diploma or higher 19%-Bachelor’s degree or higher Montgomery 27,601 $32,500 41 64% White 18% Black 15% Latino 85% English 15% Spanish 75%-HS diploma 15%-Bachelor’s degree Iredell 165,066 $52,306 40 77% White 12% Black 91% English 9% Spanish 87%-HS diploma 26%-Bachelor’s degree Randolph 142,947 $41,947 80% White 11% Black 6% Latino 89% English 80%-HS diploma Rowan 138,361 $43,069 73% White 16% Black 8% Latino 7% Spanish 83%-HS diploma 18%-Bachelor’s degree Stanly 60,586 $40,910 82% White 10% Black 4% Latino 94% English 3% Spanish 16%-Bachelor’s degree Source: Data USA & US Census

(well water permit application, hotline for basic Qs) Readability 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Very difficult Fairly difficult Fairly easy Very easy Difficult Standard Easy Scientific Journal - - Academic Magazine - - - - Magazine - - - Digests - - - -Sci Fiction - - Pop fiction - - Comic books Randolph (43.9) Stanly (well water permit application, hotline for basic Qs) Davidson (53.9) NC DHHS (45.6) Rowan (48.6) Iredell (51.4) NC DEQ (49.5) Montgomery (N/A) Formula to Calculate Readability: Readability Ease = 206.835 – (1.015 x Avg Sentence Length) – (84.6 x Avg Syllables Per Word) Well water testing, do not drink letter, water quality info all analyzed 60-70 is ideal (7th/8th grade reading level) 10th-12th grade reading level Sources: Statalist, Readability Formulas

Well Testing Rates County Total # Wells # of wells tested (% of total) Cost of Well Test (% of income) Montgomery 8,340 228 (2.73%) N/A Stanly 22,772 620 (2.72%) $55 (0.13%) Davidson 48,863 238 (0.49%) $90 (0.21%) Iredell 50,354 698 (1.39%) $250 (0.48%) Randolph 59,534 1137 (1.91%) $74 (0.18%) Rowan 70,081 1207 (1.72%) More wells per county Iredell has the highest cost and

Arsenic Contamination (MCL = 0.010 mg/L)

Arsenic Contamination (MCL = 0.010 mg/L)

Arsenic Contamination (MCL = 0.010 mg/L) Stanly County Arsenic Levels Above the MCL 11.6 x MCL MCL

Appears randomly distributed - expected b/c arsenic is naturally occurring in this region

Lead Contamination (MCL = 0.015 mg/L)

Lead Contamination (MCL = 0.015 mg/L)

Lead Contamination (MCL = 0.015 mg/L) Randolph County Lead Levels Above the MCL 37.1 x MCL MCL

Pretty random - but also small sample size

Manganese Contamination (MCL = 0.05 mg/L)

Manganese Contamination (MCL = 0.05 mg/L)

Manganese Contamination (MCL = 0.05 mg/L) Randolph County Manganese Levels Above the MCL 158 x MCL MCL

Pretty random

Indoor vs. Outdoor Logistic Regression Results (Samples in Red indicate the worse quality samples) Arsenic: Outdoor samples are 1.15 times as likely as indoor samples to exceed the MCL Lead: Outdoor samples are 0.48 times as likely as indoor samples to exceed the MCL Manganese: Outdoor samples are 1.75 times as likely as indoor samples to exceed the MCL

Most samples are from raw water, which are more likely to have contaminants than those that are treated

Conclusions & Recommendations Where do we go from here?

SES and Environmental Justice Metrics Natural Contamination SES and Environmental Justice Metrics ? Testing and Treatment Based on the literature review (Flanagan) and the analysis on the data we collected, we found that income and education level are closely linked to predicting behavior for well testing and treatment. Income can be a useful predictor because well tests are only required of new wells, which doesn’t apply to individuals with existing wells on rented or owned properties. Additionally, well tests can be cost prohibitive to individuals with lower incomes. This is especially evident in the cost of well tests for Iredell County, and the clear income gap between Iredell Mooresville and Iredell Statesville. Education level is also related to well testing behavior. There is a lack of knowledge about water quality as it pertains to the characteristics of safe drinking water. Many believe that if their water tastes and looks acceptable, then it’s safe to drink. However, many harmful contaminants are not detectable by taste, smell or sight. This lack of knowledge leads people to test infrequently because they feel that it’s unnecessary. Additionally, access to resources about well testing information can be difficult for individuals who have lower reading levels or lack access to internet. The scientific language and high reading levels of resources provided by the NCDHHS, as well as the need for internet access to obtain them, are all barriers that prevent individuals of lower reading levels from gaining the information they need. We also found that Rowan and Randolph are counties of interest for lead contamination, and while this may not be a product of environmental injustice, it’s possible that is due to older homes with older piping infrastructure.

SES and Environmental Justice Metrics Natural Contamination SES and Environmental Justice Metrics Income Testing and Treatment Education Based on the literature review (Flanagan) and the analysis on the data we collected, we found that income and education level are closely linked to predicting behavior for well testing and treatment. Income can be a useful predictor because well tests are only required of new wells, which doesn’t apply to individuals with existing wells on rented or owned properties. Additionally, well tests can be cost prohibitive to individuals with lower incomes. This is especially evident in the cost of well tests for Iredell County, and the clear income gap between Iredell Mooresville and Iredell Statesville. Education level is also related to well testing behavior. There is a lack of knowledge about water quality as it pertains to the characteristics of safe drinking water. Many believe that if their water tastes and looks acceptable, then it’s safe to drink. However, many harmful contaminants are not detectable by taste, smell or sight. This lack of knowledge leads people to test infrequently because they feel that it’s unnecessary. Additionally, access to resources about well testing information can be difficult for individuals who have lower reading levels or lack access to internet. The scientific language and high reading levels of resources provided by the NCDHHS, as well as the need for internet access to obtain them, are all barriers that prevent individuals of lower reading levels from gaining the information they need. We also found that Rowan and Randolph are counties of interest for lead contamination, and while this may not be a product of environmental injustice, it’s possible that is due to older homes with older piping infrastructure.

Recommendations

Moving Forward…