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Cutts BB, Vilá O, Bray LA, Harris A, Hornsby G, Goins H, McLean S, Crites M, Allen A, McMenamin N, Harlee T. Shifting terrains: Understanding residential contaminants after flood disasters. Sci Total Environ 2024; 907:167577. [PMID: 37839486 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Revised: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Flood disasters can induce the mass transport of soils and sediments. This has the potential to distribute contaminants and present novel combinations to new locations - including residential neighborhoods. Even when soil contaminants cannot be directly attributed to the disaster, data on bacterial and heavy metal(loids) can facilitate an environmentally just recovery by enabling reconstruction decisions that fill data gaps to minimize future exposure. These data-gathering interventions may be especially useful in poor, rural, and racially diverse communities where there is a high probability of exposure to multiple hazards and a potential dependency on the financial resources of disaster aid as a means of reducing chronic exposures to other environmental pollutants. At the same time, entering these post-disasters spaces is ethically complex. To acknowledge this complexity, we pilot a framework for work that gathers social-ecological hazard information while retaining a fair-minded approach to transdisciplinary work. Assembled a transdisciplinary team to recruit participants from 90 households subjected to flooding in the southeastern US. Participating households agreed to interviews to elicit flood experience and environmental health concerns, soil sampling for fecal bacteria (E. coli) and soil sampling for selected heavy metals and metalloids (Pb, As, Cd) at their flooded residence. Soil sampling found a wide range of E. coli concentrations in soil (0.4-1115.7 CFU/ dry gram). Heavy metal(loid)s were detected at most residences (As 97.9 %; Ca 25.5 %; Pb 100 %). Individually, heavy metal(loid) concentrations did not exceed regulatory thresholds. Hazard, risk, and mitigation concerns expressed during interviews reveal that integrated human-nature concepts complicate common understandings of how hazard perceptibility (smell, sight, touch, and information) affects research-action spaces. Qualitative analysis of interviews and field notes revealed that soil-related hazards addressed by our biophysical protocols were less salient than changes with direct causal associations with flooding. We conclude by discussing the potential for the social-ecological hazard information that is fair-minded and transdisciplinary (SHIFT) framework to advance environmentally just approaches to research-action spaces after disasters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bethany B Cutts
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA; Center for Geospatial Analytics, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
| | - Olivia Vilá
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Laura A Bray
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA; Department of Sociology and Anthropology, NC State University, 2800 Faucette Drive, Raleigh, NC, USA.
| | - Angela Harris
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
| | - Gracie Hornsby
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Hannah Goins
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Sallie McLean
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Margaret Crites
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Angela Allen
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Nathan McMenamin
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Taleek Harlee
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
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