AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Assessment of Airborne Toxic Metals at an Environmental Justice Community in Wilmington, Delaware
Olivia Ryder, Jennifer DeWinter, STEVEN G. BROWN, Elizabeth Frey, Keith Hoffman, Sonoma Technology, Inc
Abstract Number: 770 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract It is well established that prolonged exposure to particulate matter (PM) containing toxic metal species can have negative health implications. In this study, we attempt to identify the sources of toxic metals in aerosols sampled at the environmental justice (EJ) community of Eden Park, DE. The community is in the 88th percentile nationally for EJ index of cancer risk, and the 90th percentile for EJ index of PM2.5 exposure. It is surrounded by many potential sources of metal pollution including industrial facilities, the Port of Wilmington, and a highly trafficked freeway. We used hourly measurements of multiple metals using an Xact 625i plus measurements of meteorology, black carbon, PM10, PM2.5, NOx, and SO2 to determine the ambient concentration of toxic air pollutants and to apportion their sources. Conditional bivariate probability function maps and time variance maps were constructed using the OpenAir package and EPA Positive Matrix Factorization was used to determine the sources of the measured metals. We found that average concentrations of toxics such as arsenic and lead were comparable to nearby routine measurements, but that transient concentration events occurred intermittently where As and Pb concentrations were more than an order of magnitude larger than the study average. With PMF, we found 3 sources: soil/dust, concrete manufacturing, and vehicles emissions. Overall the local industry and intermodal traffic emissions are large contributors to the ambient air pollution in the community, though transient, high concentration events from other sources are also surprising and important.