AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
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Post-Wildfire Assessment of Indoor Dust Composition in Canadian Homes
JUSTIN H. DINGLE, Lukas Kohl, Meng Meng, Yue Shi, Arthur W. H. Chan, University of Toronto
Abstract Number: 262 Working Group: The Air We Breathe: Indoor Aerosol Sources and Chemistry
Abstract Indoor house dust is a source of human exposure to persistent pollutants and is linked to potential health risks. The Fort McMurray, Alberta wildfire event in May 2016 raised questions about potential exposure to fire-related pollutants. To assess the long-term impacts of the wildfire emissions and any other sources on indoor air quality, dust was collected in Fort McMurray homes during four sampling campaigns in 2017-2018 and the concentrations of trace elements were analyzed. Dust samples were acid digested and characterized for 25 trace metal elements using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. The dust collected in the bedroom, basement, and entryway highlight characteristics that shows distinct trace metal element dominating in specific locations of the house. Cu, Zn, and Pb sampled in basement areas were increased on average by a factor of 2-3. However, Na, Mg, Al, K, and V were increased by ~ 56-90, 5-110, 20-125, 30-40, and 70-160 % in the entryway compared to other location of the homes, respectively. Bedroom samples showed the lowest concentrations for 22 out of 25 metals characterized in the dust samples except for Cd, Sb, and Ag being 35, 50 and 110% increased compared to samples collected in the entryway, respectively. Concentration levels were compared to the Alberta Tier 1 regulatory limits and generally fell within the guidelines. Enrichment factor ratios (EF) for indoor trace metal elements were calculated to compare concentrations of indoor dust samples with soil concentrations found in areas near oil sands operations and soils isolated from human activities (baseline soils) in the Fort McMurray area. Considering EF close to 1 representing metals similar to outdoor soils, EF for Cu, Zn, Cd, and Sb in entryway dust were ~ 8, 7, 6, and 10 respectively while in basement dust the EF for Pb was 6.