Sources of Lead Contamination at or near Superfund Sites

Consensus

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The Superfund program of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in the 1980s to address human-health and environmental risks posed by abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous-waste sites. Identification of Superfund sites and their remediation is an expensive multistep process. As part of this process, EPA attempts to identify parties that are responsible for the contamination and thus financially responsible for remediation. Identification of potentially responsible parties is complicated because Superfund sites can have a long history of use and involve contaminants that can have many sources. Such is often the case for mining sites that involve metal contamination; metals occur naturally in the environment, they can be contaminants in the wastes generated at or released from the sites, and they can be used in consumer products, which can degrade and release the metals back to the environment.

This report examines the extent to which various sources contribute to environmental lead contamination at Superfund sites that are near lead-mining areas and focuses on sources that contribute to lead contamination at sites near the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District. It recommends potential improvements in approaches used for assessing sources of lead contamination at or near Superfund sites.

Publication information

112 pages · 8.5 x 11 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-46556-7
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-46557-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/24898

Suggested citation

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Warren H. White

Warren White is a researcher at the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory of the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on airborne particles and visibility impairment. He served on the review panel for the Particulate Matter (PM) Criteria Document and was a member of the US Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Science Advisory Committee and its PM monitoring subcommittee. He has served on several National Research Council Committees. He received his PhD in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin.

Edward J. Bouwer

Edward J. Bouwer is Abel Wolman Professor of Environmental Engineering in the newly formed Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He is also director of the Center for Contaminant Transport, Fate and Remediation. Dr. Bouwer has extensive experience with drinking water and wastewater treatment processes, microbial process engineering, and contaminant transport and fate. Dr. Bouwer’s research interests encompasses factors that influence biotransformation of contaminants, bioremediation for control of contaminated soils and groundwaters, biofilm kinetics, biological processes design in wastewater, industrial, and drinking water treatment, transport and fate of microorganisms in porous media, behavior of metals in contaminated sediments, and defining and managing environmental risks. He serves as the Editor in Chief for Biodegradation and on the editorial boards for J. Contaminant Hydrology and Environmental Engineering Science. Dr. Bouwer received his BS in civil engineering with a minor in nuclear engineering from Arizona State University, and an MS and a PhD in environmental engineering and science from Stanford University.

Mark D. Barton

Mark D. Barton is a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. He serves as associate director of the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources. He has been instrumental in driving innovative research applied to ore deposits in North and South America for nearly 30 years. Collaborative research in which he has a leading role includes porphyry copper lifecycles in southwestern North America and its broader crustal context; regional geologic framework and origin of Carlin-type gold deposits; characteristics and origin of iron-oxide (REE-Cu-Au) mineralization; granite petrogenesis and lithophile element mineralization in the Great Basin; and metallogenic synthesis of Mexico and adjoining regions. He is a Society of Economic Geology Lindgren award winner, winner of the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) award, and is the author of numerous papers, including landmark reviews on ore deposits and metallogeny. He served on the National Research Council Committee on Basic Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences. Dr. Barton earned his PhD in geology from the University of Chicago.

Eric A. Betterton

Eric A. Betterton is a University Distinguished Professor and head of the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona. He also has appointments in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and the College of Public Health. His research interests focus on air pollution, especially atmospheric aerosols and dust associated with mining operations; solar energy; rain, snow and ice chemistry; remediation of polluted groundwater; and environmental fate of various compounds. He received a PhD in chemical kinetics from The University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Joel D. Blum

Joel D. Blum holds the JD MacArthur Professorship and is the GJ Keeler Distinguished University Professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Michigan. He obtained his BA from Case Western Reserve University, his MS from the University of Alaska, and his PhD from the California Institute of Technology. He was a Professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College for nine years before moving to the University of Michigan in 1999. Professor Blum’s research focuses on the sources, fate and cycling of metals in the environment. Most recently he has focused on understanding the biogeochemistry of mercury in aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric systems, in many cases utilizing mercury stable isotopes. Blum has published over 200 research papers and his work has been cited over 7700 times. He has served on numerous advisory panels for NSF, NIH, ELPC and DOE. He is a past editor of Chemical Geology and current editor of Elementa. He is a Fellow of the Geochemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America and the AAAS. In 2013 he won the Patterson Medal of the Geochemical Society for his work on metals in the environment.

Susan L. Brantley

Susan L. Brantley is Distinguished Professor of Geosciences and Director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Brantley investigates chemical and physical processes associated with the circulation of aqueous fluids in shallow hydrogeologic settings. Investigations incorporate field and laboratory work and theoretical modeling of observations. Of particular interest to her are the measurement and prediction of the rates of natural processes, including chemical weathering and natural degassing. Her recent work has focused on measuring and modeling how rock turns into regolith and water quality issues in areas with hydraulic fracturing. She has served on numerous National Research Council committees and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. She is a recipient of the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society, the Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, and the Presidential Award of the Soil Science Society of America. She received her PhD in geological and geophysical sciences from Princeton University.

Judith C. Chow

Judith C. Chow holds the Nazir and Mary Ansari Chair in Science and Entrepreneurialism and is a Research Professor in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences of the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the Nevada System of Higher Education in Reno, Nevada. She earned her Sc.D. degree in Environmental Science and Physiology (1985) from Harvard University. For more than 39 years, she has conducted air quality studies and performed data analysis to improve understanding of effects of air quality on human health, visibility, historical treasures, ecosystems, and climate. Dr. Chow has led DRI’s Environmental Analysis Facility (EAF) since its inception in 1985. She has been principal investigator or a major collaborator in more than 50 large air quality studies (and many smaller ones) across the United States and in other countries. The EAF supports PM speciation networks including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chemical Speciation Network (CSN) and the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network. Dr. Chow is a chartered member of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and a member of CASAC’s Particulate Matter Review Panel (2015-2018). She is the principal author or co-author of more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters with more than 14,000 citations of her work. She was chair of the Publications Committee for the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association and serves on Editorial Boards and/or as Thematic Editor for several international journals including: the Journal of Air Quality, Atmosphere, & Health, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, Atmospheric Pollution Research, and Particuology. Dr. Chow has received the California Air Resources Board’s 2011 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award for her contributions to air quality science and technology, the Air & Waste Management Association’s 2016 Arthur C. Stern Award for Distinguished Paper and 2002 Frank A. Chambers Excellence in Air Pollution Control Award, and the 2001 Nevada System of Higher Education’s Regents’ Researcher Award.

Scott E. Fendorf

Scott E. Fendorf is the Huffington Family Professor in Earth Science at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Dr. Fendorf is interested in the chemical and biological processes that govern the fate and transport of contaminants and nutrients within soils, sediments, and surface waters. His research group examines the chemical environments that develop as a result of biotic and abiotic processes and strives to account for the physical complexity within natural settings. Dr. Fendorf served on the National Research Council Committee on the Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soils and Sediments. He received his PhD in soil and environmental chemistry from the University of Delaware.

Robert E. Hazen

Robert E. Hazen is a research scientist at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in the Division of Science Research and Environmental Health. His research activities have focused on human health risk assessment and natural resource management with the goal of assisting with Department procedures and regulations. He has served on numerous national technical committees, including the US Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board and the National Research Council Committee on Remedial Action Priorities for Hazardous Waste Sites. He received his PhD in biology and environmental health from New York University.

Chris E. Johnson

Chris E. Johnson is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University. Dr. Johnson’s current research focuses on the chemistry of natural organic matter, which plays an important role in soil fertility, trace metal transport, and the acid-base status of soils and natural waters. He is also involved in the interdisciplinary study of biogeochemical cycles at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the United States. He has ongoing research interests in the fate of trace metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ni) in forest soils and landscapes; the effects of clear-cut logging on soils and drainage waters; and the changing acid-base chemistry of soils historically affected by acid rain. He served on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee Panel for Lead in 2011-2013, which established the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for lead. He has been an associate editor for the Soil Science Society of America Journal and the Journal of Soils and Sediments. Dr. Johnson has a BSE in civil and urban engineering, an MA in statistics, and a PhD in geology from University of Pennsylvania.

William I. Manton

William I. Manton is a professor of geosciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. His research is focused on tracing lead pollution in the environment by means of isotope ratios, determining the sources of lead in blood, and conducting geological and geochronological studies in Central America and other countries. He received his PhD in geochronology at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Jerry R. Miller

Jerry R. Miller is the Whitmire Professor of Environmental Science in the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources at Western Carolina University. His research interests include assessment of the transport and fate of heavy metals in rivers and lakes; sediment geochemical fingerprinting using multivariate and isotopic methods; documentation of the impacts of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on sediment yields and river processes; and restoration of riparian ecosystems. He received his PhD in geology from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Peggy A. O'Day

Peggy A. O’Day is professor of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Merced. Dr. O’Day studies the chemistry, reaction, and transport of inorganic contaminants and species, primarily metal and metalloid elements, in surface and subsurface systems. She specializes in the use of spectroscopic and microscopic methods, especially synchrotron X-ray techniques, to determine element speciation and molecular-scale mechanisms of biogeochemical reactions in natural systems and laboratory analogs. She develops and applies thermodynamic, kinetic, and reactive transport models for synthesis and quantitative description of biogeochemical cycling, reactivity, transport, and bioavailability. She received a PhD in applied earth sciences from Stanford University.

John Toll

John Toll is a partner at Windward Environmental LLC. He is recognized for his work in ecological modeling, risk assessment, uncertainty analysis, and environmental decision analysis. Currently, he works primarily on complex contaminated sediment sites and leads teams conducting remedial investigations and feasibility studies, ecological risk assessments, and bioaccumulation modeling. He has authored or co-authored numerous scientific papers on ecological modeling and risk assessment and environmental decision analysis. John is a senior editor of the journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management and is a member of the board of directors of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America. He earned his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa and his PhD in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

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Sources of Lead Contamination at or near Superfund Sites

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Sources of Lead Contamination at or near Superfund Sites

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Featured publication

Investigative Strategies for Lead-Source Attribution at Superfund Sites Associated with Mining Activities

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Health Care Financing to Improve Availability of Affordable Contraception: Identifying Promising Practices

Review of Methods in the Report on Carcinogens Handbook

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Meeting of Experts: Discussion of Potential Impacts of the Camp Edwards Multipurpose Machine Gun Range Project on the Cape Cod Aquifer

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Advances in Multimodal Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Environmental and Biomedical Data Integration-A Workshop