Mapping the Urban Lead Exposome: A Detailed Analysis of Soil Metal Concentrations at the Household Scale Using Citizen Science

Gabriel M. Filippelli, Jessica Adamic, Deborah Nichols, John Shukle and Emeline Frix
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Gabriel M. Filippelli: Department of Earth Sciences and Center for Urban Health, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
Jessica Adamic: Department of Earth Sciences and Center for Urban Health, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
Deborah Nichols: Department of Earth Sciences and Center for Urban Health, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
John Shukle: Department of Earth Sciences and Center for Urban Health, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
Emeline Frix: Department of Earth Sciences and Center for Urban Health, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-11

Abstract: An ambitious citizen science effort in the city of Indianapolis (IN, USA) led to the collection and analysis of a large number of samples at the property scale, facilitating the analysis of differences in soil metal concentrations as a function of property location (i.e., dripline, yard, and street) and location within the city. This effort indicated that dripline soils had substantially higher values of lead and zinc than other soil locations on a given property, and this pattern was heightened in properties nearer the urban core. Soil lead values typically exceeded the levels deemed safe for children’s play areas in the United States (<400 ppm), and almost always exceeded safe gardening guidelines (<200 ppm). As a whole, this study identified locations within properties and cities that exhibited the highest exposure risk to children, and also exhibited the power of citizen science to produce data at a spatial scale (i.e., within a property boundary), which is usually impossible to feasibly collect in a typical research study.

Keywords: lead poisoning; citizen-science; exposome; urban metals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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