Spatially resolved hazard and exposure assessments: An example of lead in soil at Lavrion, Greece

Spatially resolved hazard assessment (SRHA) and spatially resolved exposure assessment (SREA) are methodologies that have been devised for assessing c hild exposure to soil containing environmental pollutants. These are based on either a quantitative or a semiquantitative approach. The feasibility of the methodologies has been demonstrated in a study assessing child exposur e to Pb accessible in soil at the town of Lavrion in Greece. Using a quanti tative approach, both measured and kriged concentrations of Pb in soil are compared with an "established" statutory threshold value. The probabilistic approach gives a refined classification of the contaminated land, since it takes into consideration the uncertainty in both the actual measurement an d estimated kriged values. Two exposure assessment models (i.e., IEUBK and HESP) are used as the basis of the quantitative SREA methodologies. The sig nificant correlation between the blood-Pb predictions, using the IEUBK mode l, and measured concentrations provides a partial validation of the method, because it allows for the uncertainty in the measurements and the lack of some site-specific measurements. The semiquantitative applications of SRHA and SREA incorporate both qualitative information (e.g., land use and dusti ness of waste) and quantitative information (e.g., distance from wastes and distance from industry). The significant correlation between the results o f these assessments and the measured blood-Pb levels confirms the robust na ture of this approach. Successful application of these methodologies could reduce the cost of the assessment and allow areas to be prioritized for fur ther investigation, remediation, or risk management. (C) 2000 Academic Pres s.