Overview of Public Health
Figure 1. NPL Status of Sites with ATSDR
Public Health Assessment
Assessment Findings
Activity in Fiscal Year 2001
A public health assessment is a review of infor-
mation about hazardous substances at a site and
an evaluation of whether exposure to those sub-
stances at the levels found might harm people.
Public health assessments often include recom-
mendations about actions needed to prevent or
Non NPL
mitigate potential health effects and identify
27%
any follow-up or additional studies that may be
needed at the site to protect public health.
NPL
73%
agreement states prepared 196 public health
assessment documents for 137 sites. Of these
137 sites, 100 (73%) were NPL sites, and 37
(27%) were non-NPL sites. (See Figure 1.) In
addition, 15 were sites that were covered by
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), and 22 were sites for which the com-
munity or others had petitioned ATSDR to con-
duct a public health assessment. RCRA covers
Figure 2. Major Contaminants Found at
the control of hazardous substances at operating
Sites Assessed in Fiscal Year 2001
facilities, such as manufacturing plants.
ATSDR estimates that more than 1.3 million
people live within 1 mile of the 137 sites that
13
Tetrachloroethylene
were assessed in fiscal year 2001. Of the 1.3
million people, about 367,993 live near non-
18
Lead
NPL sites, and about 932,700 live near NPL
sites. Of the sites assessed in public health
assessment documents, 16% were found to pose
18
a public health hazard.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were the
19
Trichloroethylene
contaminant found most often at the sites
assessed in fiscal year 2001. VOCs were
VOCs
20
commonly found were trichloroethylene, which
0
5
10
15
20
25
Percent of sites
at 18%; lead, also found at 18%; and tetra-
chloroethylene, found at 13%. (See Figure 2.)
About one-third of the sites assessed in public
health assessments in fiscal year 2001 were
manufacturing or industrial sites. Government-
owned sites made up 16% of the sites where
18 chapter 1
Previous Page
