It started with a few neighbors asking me if it was safe to garden. Folks living near the many industrial facilities in Tonawanda, N.Y. had complained of a black gooey substance flying through the air, depositing on their gardens, and burning holes in their tomato plants. One neighbor complained that this same substance left holes in the paint on her van. Several other residents in nearby neighborhoods consistently complained of an oily black soot interfering with their quality of life. We believed that this substance was dangerous and that it was coming from a nearby foundry coke plant called Tonawanda Coke. However, what could we do about it? A few of us, calling ourselves Citizen Science Community Resources, decided we wanted to test this black goo that was interfering with our life. We decided to investigate our soil because that's where it appeared to have the greatest impact on our health.
At the same time, we communicated with individuals from another community in North Birmingham, Alabama, (GASP) where two foundry coke plants reside. We learned their surface soil was contaminated with dangerous chemicals including many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and heavy metals. Of particular concern was Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a very hazardous PAH.
These folks had the same problems as us! We weren’t alone. Could our soil contain these same dangerous chemicals?
We started putting together a toolkit with a few jars, some gloves, a stainless steel trowel, and a bowl and threw it in a tote. We were almost ready to head out, but realized we needed to answer some questions first and develop a plan.
These were our questions:
What is our goal? What is the question we want answered?
We wanted to know if our soil (mainly in gardens and play areas) contained pollutants that could be harmful to our health. What is in our soil?
What do we test for?
PAHs and heavy metals. We decided to test for the same pollutants as our friends in N. Birmingham.
How do we properly sample and test our soil to collect accurate and defensible data?
We met with the experts at the NYS Department of Health and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and followed their guidance. We also followed the EPA guidance procedures and protocols, just like the folks in N. Birmingham.
What else do we need in our toolkit?
Based on the information we gathered in question #3, we decided to add a number of other items to our toolkit including: sterilized amber jars, chain of custody forms and labels, materials for cleaning up, a lab book (to document our sampling procedure), a cooler with ice, distilled water, and instructions.
Where do we send the samples off to be tested?
We reached out to a local NYS certified laboratory called Eurofins/Test America where they provided some additional equipment we needed in our toolkit.
How do we pay for the testing?
I held a small fundraiser in my home that I invited my friends to attend. We also received a significant donation from a local elected official. The funds we raised went to pay for testing and soil sampling equipment.
How do we interpret the lab results and what do we do with them?
We partnered with a local university and Dr. Shaun Crawford from N. Birmingham (our current technical advisor) to help us interpret the results. If the results found something of concern, we wanted to use our data to shine a spotlight on the problem. However, we needed to be ready to NOT find something. We wondered if our data would back up what we instinctively already knew.
Note: We also decided to first share the results with the individual homeowners. Next, if it was okay with all the homeowners, we would share our data (de-identified, meaning no addresses and names were shared) with our partners (NYS DOH, NYS DEC, and the University at Buffalo). Lastly, we would share with the media. We discovered that if a resident had their soil tested and wanted to sell their home, they needed to disclose their soil testing results. We realized we needed to communicate this information properly, so when we developed permission to sample and test forms, we included a statement explaining this. We also developed a second packet of information explaining their results. It included a second permission form to allow us to use their data in our pilot study research paper. During this time, we continued to work collaboratively with the NYS DEC and NYS DOH. These are the state agencies that would have the authority to help get us a clean up if we needed to eventually pursue that avenue. We suggest that you work with your state agencies.
We finished putting together our toolkit (today's version is the EnviroBucket). Now we were ready to collect samples.
Stay tuned for our next blog post to read what we found and what we did next.
If you and/or your neighbors are concerned about pollutants in your garden or where your children and pets play, we recommend that you follow these steps (summarized from above):
Step 1: Decide if you want to test your soil by yourself or with a small group of folks. We recommend getting a few people together; many heads are better than one!
Step 2: Listen to your neighbors and other similar communities. Do your research and determine what pollutants could be in your soil. Listen and learn.
Steps 3-7: You’re in luck! We’ve made steps 3-7 easy. Check out CSCR’s offerings and resources. Feel free to build your own kit too. We have made everything open source, including the instruction manual. However, what we have found is that folks appreciate the EnviroBucket’s convenience and our support. We’re here to help.
Jackie James ~ CSCR Founder