Analyzing Patterns of Community Interest at a Legacy Mining Waste Site to Assess and Inform Environmental Health Literacy Efforts

Understanding a community’s concerns and infor-mational needs is crucial to conducting and improving envi-ronmental health research and literacy initiatives. We hypoth-esized that analysis of community inquiries over time at alegacy mining site would be an effective method for assessingenvironmental health literacy efforts and determining whethercommunity concerns were thoroughly addressed. Through aqualitative analysis, we determined community concerns atthe time of being listed as a Superfund site. We analyzedhow community concerns changed from this starting pointover the subsequent years, and whether: (1) communicationmaterials produced by the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency and other media were aligned with community con-cerns; and (2) these changes demonstrated a progression of thecommunity’s understanding resulting from community in-volvement and engaged research efforts. We observed thatwhen the Superfund site was first listed, community memberswere most concerned with USEPA management, remediation,site-specific issues, health effects, and environmental monitor-ing efforts related to air/dust and water. Over the next 5 years,community inquiries shifted significantly to include exposureassessment and reduction methods and issues unrelated to thesite, particularly the local public water supply and home watertreatment systems. Such documentation of community inqui-ries over time at contaminated sites is a novel method to assessenvironmental health literacy efforts and determine whethercommunity concerns were thoroughly addressed.12 month embargo; published online: 21 July 2015This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Water Facts: Home Water Treatment Options

4 pp.Arizona Know Your Water.Today, homeowners have access to several water treatment systems to help control minerals and contaminants and to disinfect their water. Nearly half of the homes in the U.S. have some type of water treatment device. Mistrust of public water utilities, uncertainty over water quality standards, concerns about general health issues and limited understanding about home water treatment systems have all played a role in this increasing demand for home water treatment systems. Private well owners also need to provide safe drinking water for their families and have to make decisions as to how to treat their own water sources to meet this need. However, choosing a water treatment system is no easy task. Depending of the volume of water and degree of contamination, the homeowner should consider professional assistance in selecting and installing well water treatment systems. The process of selection is often confounded by incomplete or misleading information about water quality, treatment options, and costs. The following paragraphs outline the major well water treatment options. Further details on types, uses (point of use) and costs of these home water treatment systems are provided in the Arizona Know Your Water booklet. Additional information about Arizonas water sources that can help private well owners make decisions about home water treatment options, can be found in Arizona Well Owners Guide to Water Supply booklet (see references section)

Arizona Well Owners Video Series: Well Components

Video is available on the UofAZCALS YouTube channel.Private well owners should also be familiar with above-ground well components for maintenance and emergency purposes. This video describes well components such as bladder tanks and pressure controls, their common locations and how to inspect them

Arizona Well Owners Video Series: Well Drilling and Pump Replacement

Video is available on the UofAZCALS YouTube channel.Arizona private well owners are responsible for their well water quality. This video shows where to collect water samples and describes the sample collection process in detail for the analysis of contaminants to insure unbiased results

Arizona Well Owners Video Series: Arizona Aquifers

Video is available on the UofAZCALS YouTube channel.About 5% of Arizona's population depends on private wells for fresh water and more than 40% of our annual water use comes from Arizona's aquifers. Following a brief introduction to regulations, requirements and equipment used for drilling a private well in Arizona, this video presents the geologic origins of Arizona's aquifer materials with illustrations and pictures of AZ aquifers. Finally, aquifers are ranked by their ability to store and produce water

Arizona Well Owners Video Series: Well Water Testing

Video is available on the UofAZCALS YouTube channel.After an introduction to the regulatory requirements and forms needed to drill or deepen a private well in AZ, this video provides detailed descriptions of the well drilling process with close up views of a drill rig, well casing placement, and pump removal and replacement steps

Biosolids Land Use in Arizona

8 pp.The land application (non-hazardous sewage sludge) biosolids has been in practice in Arizona since the 60s

Nitrate Contamination Potential in Arizona Groundwater: Implications for Drinking Water Wells

4 pp.This fact sheet is to be taken from research conducted by Uhlman and Rahman and published on the WRRC web site as: "Predicting Ground Water Vulnerability to Nitrate in Arizona". Funded by TRIF and peer reviewed by ADEQ. It also follows on "Arizona Well Owner's Guide to Water Supply" and also "Arizona Drinking Water Well Contaminants" (part 1 already submitted, part 2 in process).Arizona's arid environment and aquifer types allow for the persistence of nitrate contamination in ground water. Agricultural practices and the prevalence of septic systems contributes to this water quality concern, resulting in nitrate exceeding the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) in several locations across the state. Working with known nitrate concentrations in 6,800 wells across the state, this fact sheet presents maps showing the probability of nitrate contamination of ground water exceeding the MCL. The importance of monitoring your domestic water supply well for nitrate is emphasized

Arizona Well Owners' Guide to Water Supply

80 pp.Arizona: Know Your Water. A consumer's guide to water source, quality, regulations and home water treatment.This well owners guide presents detailed sections to assist the reader in becoming familiar with water quality concepts, drinking water guidelines and water testing. The reader can also become familiar with Arizona specific aquifers, conditions and activities that determine ground water quality. Well owners can also review and become familiar with well construction, components and maintenance needed for the safe and proper function of their wells. Finally, a section on water treatment technologies and selection, based on water quality conditions is presented. Well owners will be able to refer to this section for the selection of water treatments, should they choose to improve the water quality of their wells. Includes numerous illustrations

Arizona Wells: Low Yielding Domestic Water Wells

3 pp.Arizona Well Owner's Guide to Water SupplyTo develop a ground water resource, it is necessary to design and construct a well capable of yielding a pumping rate compatible with the needs of the water well owner. Sufficient and sustained well yields are highly dependent on the characteristics of the aquifer, the construction of the well, and the maintenance of the well. Causes of low-yielding wells are explained and practices to restore well performance are recommended