Residential Radon Measurements in Puerto Rico

LUPITA MONTOYA, Marc Menetrez, Jacky Rosati Rowe, Pedro Tarafa, US Environmental Protection Agency

     Abstract Number: 404
     Working Group: Indoor Aerosols

Abstract
Radon was ranked the fifth leading cause of mortality by the World Health Organization in 2010. In the US, radon is the number one cause of lung cancer for non-smokers. In the 1990’s the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed a series of Radon Zone Maps by measuring radon throughout the continental US, Alaska, and Hawaii; however, this effort did not include US territories such as Puerto Rico. In a separate study, the US Geological Survey (USGS) found that several areas in Puerto Rico have the geologic potential to generate indoor radon levels exceeding the EPA action level of 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) of air. A recent collaboration between the EPA and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM), seeks to produce the first residential radon map for Puerto Rico. The project is implementing the New Testing Method for Community Mapping of Radon, which employs the Corentium Home (CH) radon detection device by Airthings (Airthings Inc, 2021). The devices were used in seven initial target municipalities, located in the northwest part of the island. Information on individual homes is kept in privacy, while regional data are used for radon mapping and eventual transmittal to Puerto Rican health authorities, informing potential development of land-use planning and building code recommendations. This talk will present the results of preliminary radon measurements in this ongoing study.