The Brio Superfund site in Friendswood, Texas, was one of the Superfund sites that flooded after Hurricane Harvey. A new study has found that living life can be reduced by living near hazardous waste sites.
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- Generally, the life expectancy of a Superfund site decreases by two months.
- In less privileged neighborhoods, life expectancy can be cut 15 months.
- About 60% of landfills can be affected by natural disasters that can spread pollution.
The adverse health effects of living near a hazardous waste site have long been documented. Now, researchers have calculated how much the life expectancy of these sites could shorten.
In communities near landfills, life expectancy can be reduced by more than a year, according to a new study from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston.
The study, published in Nature Communications, looked at census treaties near nearly 12,000 sites, not just the 1,300 Superfund sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List.
It contains identified Superfund sites’ that are currently on the list and are proposed to be on the list, removed from the list, and waiting to become part of the list and sites not monitored by the EPA. ‘
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According to the EPA, these sites exist because ‘hazardous waste is dumped, left behind in public or otherwise mismanaged’. This includes manufacturing or processing plants, mines and landfills.
As many people living near these sites have greater sociodemographic disadvantages, factors such as age, gender, marital status and income were also examined.
“The existence of a Superfund site reduces land and property values, which means that poorer communities are more likely to live near a site than wealthy people,” said Amin Kiaghadi of the Oden Institute of Computer Engineering and Sciences of UT Austin said. a news release.
“Poorer populations tend to have less insurance coverage, a poorer quality diet and are more susceptible to underlying health conditions, making them even more vulnerable to the potentially harmful chemicals emanating from Superfund sites,” Kiaghadi said. said.
The analysis shows an overall decrease of more than two months in life expectancy for people living near a hazardous waste site, but together with the sociodemographic disadvantages, the life expectancy decreased by about 15 months.
“It was a little surprising and worrying,” Hanadi S. Rifai, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Houston who led the study with Kiaghadi, told The Guardian. “We were not sure whether the fact that you were socio-economically challenged would exacerbate the consequences of the landfill.”
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The study also pointed to a report from the government’s accounting office in 2019 which says that about 60% of EPA – managed Superfund sites could be affected by natural hazards, such as veld fires and floods.
The researchers investigated the impact of flooding, which could transport pollution from Superfund sites and affect neighborhoods outside the edge of waste sites.
“If you add flooding, there will be additional or secondary consequences that could potentially be exacerbated by a changing future climate,” Rifai said in a news release. “The long-term effects of flooding and recurrent exposure have an effect that can transcend generations.”
Rifai told The Guardian: ‘You may think you’ve already built with a problem (in mind), but a natural danger could change the picture. You may need to rethink and reconsider what you did and make sure it hardens against natural hazards so you do not have constant exposure or any emerging exposure. “
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