To Litso, the water is yellow: Investigating short term exposure and risk perception of Navajo communities to the Gold King Mine toxic Spill

 描述(申请人提供)：2015年8月5日，300万加仑的酸性矿山废水从金王矿泄漏中意外释放，最终到达纳瓦霍民族的命脉--圣胡安河。许多美洲原住民社区都有自给自足的生计，以及与自然环境密切相关的强大文化习俗和精神信仰。因此，灾难性的地雷泄漏造成的环境污染严重影响到土著人民的精神和物质生计的核心，有可能出现独特的接触途径和更大的健康风险。使情况进一步复杂化的是，在地雷泄漏后缺乏经验性的短期和长期暴露数据，这是科学家解决这些担忧所必需的。在与纳瓦霍民族建立伙伴关系的基础上，该项目旨在测量铅和砷的短期暴露，并评估依赖圣胡安河的纳瓦霍社区的风险认知，以便了解金矿泄漏带来的潜在长期健康风险，并制定缓解战略。对铅和砷的暴露和对健康的影响进行了广泛的研究，并为人体生物监测水平制定了明确的指导方针，以便在出现不利的健康影响之前识别和治疗高风险个人。第一个目标是在漏油后9个月内和生长季节之前确定泄漏后下游三个纳瓦霍分部的暴露水平。第二个目标是评估泄漏后12个月内纳瓦霍三个分会的沉积物、农业土壤、河流和井水的时空变化。第三个目标是确定纳瓦霍社区成员对石油泄漏后9个月内金矿泄漏造成的健康风险的感知与测量的健康风险之间的关联。这一应用具有时间敏感性，因为必须在春季径流之前和纳瓦霍生长季开始之前获得可能重新调动河流沉积物的基线短期暴露测量。此外，在事故发生后不久，风险感知是最高的、动态的和多样化的，应该最大限度地减少回忆偏差。如此大规模的地雷泄漏发生的时间不可预测，这增加了及时作出反应以收集样本以评估环境暴露对人类健康的潜在危害的重要性。这项调查的结果将在未来用于开展以社区为基础的干预， 旨在a)根据实际测量的风险防止潜在的有害暴露，和/或b)有效地传达来自Gold King矿泄漏的实际长期风险。虽然这一具体事件可能是近代史上最大的酸矿泄漏事件之一，但内政部估计，全美有50多万个废弃矿场，持续的酸矿泄漏或大规模泄漏影响许多社区和生态系统的可能性很高。从这项研究中收集的经验数据也可用于改进风险评估和沟通，以便在未来地雷泄漏灾害影响其他社区的不幸事件中发挥作用。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): On August 5, 2015, 3 million gallons of acid mine drainage was accidently released from the Gold King Mine spill, eventually reaching the San Juan River - the lifeblood of the Navajo Nation. Many Native American communities have subsistence livelihoods and strong cultural practices and spiritual beliefs that are deeply connected to the natural environment. As a result, environmental contamination from catastrophic mine spills severely impacts indigenous people to the core of their spiritual and physical livelihoods and there is potential for unique exposure pathways and greater health risks. Further complicating the situation is the lack of empirical short and long-term exposure data following mine spills, necessary for scientists to address these concerns. Building on established partnerships with the Navajo Nation, this project aims to measure the short- term exposure to lead and arsenic and evaluate the risk perceptions of Navajo communities dependent on the San Juan River in order to understand the potential long-term health risks from the Gold King Mine spill and develop mitigation strategies. Exposure and health effects of lead and arsenic are widely studied and clear guidelines for human biomonitoring levels are established such that individuals with high risks can be identified and treated before adverse health effects occur. The first aim is to determine levels of exposures in three Navajo Chapters downstream of spill within 9 months of the spill and prior to the growing season. The second aim is to assess temporal and spatial changes in sediment, agricultural soil, river and well water in the three Navajo Chapters within 12 months of the spill. The third aim is to determine the association between Navajo community members' perception of health risks and measured health risks from the Gold King Mine spill within the 9-month period after the spill. This application is time-sensitive because it is essential to obtain baseline short-term exposure measurements prior to spring runoff which is likely to re-mobilize river sediment and prior to the start of the Navajo growing season. Additionally, risk perception is most elevated, dynamic, and diverse shortly after an incident and recall bias should be minimized. The unpredictable timing of a mine spill of this magnitude increases the importance of a timely response for the collection of samples to evaluate potential harm to human health from environmental exposures. The results of this investigation will be used in the future to develop a community-based intervention, designed to a) prevent potentially harmful exposures based on actual measured risk, and/or b) communicate the actual long-term risks from the Gold King mine spill, effectively. While this specific incident may have been one of the largest acid mine spills in recent history, the Department of Interior has estimated more than 500,000 abandoned mines throughout the United States, and the potential for ongoing acid mine leaks or large-scale spills to impact many communities and eco-systems is high. Empirical data collected from this study could also be used to improve risk assessment and communication in the unfortunate event of future mine spill disasters affecting other communities.