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Research Project

Community Exposure

Marin Robinson, Northern Arizona University (NAU), and
Pierre Herckes, Arizona State University (ASU), Principal Investigators

Communities living near mines or mine tailings have concerns over exposures to these operations. Of particular concern are exposures to inhalable particulates (particles ≤2.5 µm in diameter or PM2.5) and particulate-bound trace metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, and uranium. To address these concerns, in Year 1, Dr. Robinson (NAU) will conduct PM2.5 monitoring on the Navajo Reservation at two paired sites: (1) a uranium mine tailing site and (2) a community located near the tailings site. Monitoring will be conducted in collaboration with the Navajo Nation EPA (NNEPA). (Charlene Nelson, NNEPA Air Quality Control Program, has already been contacted and offers her full support for this project.) The NNEPA currently monitors area PM2.5 levels every 30 min using a TEOM. These data will be shared with Dr. Robinson and used to select the monitoring sites. Monitoring instrumentation will include a weather station (to measure temperature, pressure, wind velocity and direction) and two particle-collection instruments: a PM2.5 chemical speciation monitor (Super SASS) and a particle size-speciation monitor (MOUDI). Monitoring will be conducted at the mine tailings site for ~12 weeks. One SASS sample (4 filters) will be collected each week (integrated for 2-4 days). One MOUDI sample (10 filters) will be collected each month (integrated for 2-4 days). These at-source samples will be used to determine the “fingerprint” of mine-tailings dust and determine if certain elements segregate by particle size. Next, the instruments will be moved to the community site, and monitoring will continue for an additional 24-36 weeks. As before, SASS samples will be collected once per week and MOUDI samples once per month.