M5.7 My Community's Sewage Facilities

I live and work in San Jose California, Santa Clara County. The sewage facility in this community is the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility. It is the largest advanced wastewater treatment facility in the western United States. It works “24/7 to clean Silicon Valley’s wastewater to very high national standards, protecting public health and environment and supporting the economy.”

The facility serves residents and businesses in eight cities and four sanitation districts including:

• Cities of San Jose, Santa Clara, Milipitas
• Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga Sanitary District
• County Sanitation Districts 2-3 and Burbank Sanitary District

M5.5 Campaign for Tap Water

If I were to develop a nationwide campaign to get people to drink tap water instead of bottled water, my campaign slogan would be:

M5.4 Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) and water quality

The water I use through my apartment complex in San Jose comes from surface water. It is cleaned, filtered, and disinfected at a water company in San Jose. The Consumer Confidence Report currently does not have information available on the quality of water I use.

I do use Brita water filter in my bathroom sink faucet. I thought using filter such as this will further remove lead, chlorine, industrial pollutants, and pesticides that could be harmful on my skin. And to be honest, I have been drinking bottled water for years, thinking bottled water is cleaner and safer. After watching videos about tap and bottled water…Oh boy I was wrong! The tap water is clean and much safer than the “plastiqued” water I drink. The tap water is professionally (with strict standards) processed, cleaned, filtered, and disinfected for safe oral consumption. It is everywhere, does not cost me anything, and does not need to be in containers harmful to our environments.

M5.2 Public health importance of safe drinking-water

The water we see on the surface of the earth is surface water. Groundwater is water stored between rocks, soil, and sediments under the ground. It slowly flows through aquifers and connects with rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands. It feeds trees and vegetation.

The Clean Water Act of 1972 is the federal law created to better control water pollution, meet safety standard for recreation, maintain integrity of water, for industrial and surface water in the United States. It authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to implement pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards.

Thousands die every day in countries that do not have clean water law. They consume bacteria and parasites by drinking and using unfiltered and undisinfected water from ground and surfaces. The Clean Water Act is important in public health because it controls for safe and healthy water we use by enforcing policies that we as individuals and industries need to comply for water waste discharges. Although this is a very expensive federal law that costs businesses and citizens, I truly believe that it is our basic human responsibility to uphold this act. Regulating pollutants in the water the we drink and clean ourselves with needs to be free of harm and diseases so we can function and enjoy life fully.

M4.6 Blog Assignment: Radon

National radon awareness campaign

National yearly radon household elimination campaign would be ideal during the spring, when home and property owners are planning for property projects, renovations, buy and sell, or rentals. This will be facilitated by the local health agencies. Potential stake holders will be the county health department, health insurance companies, research institutes, radon expert companies, and of course the county residents. High tech companies can also partake in this disease preventions campaign by creating tools which can test for radon which results can be digitally or electronically transmitted to an environmental health agency. This will be a quick fix for those who are computer illiterate or those who can’t find time processing the testing steps.

Although expensive, test toolkits should be distributed to all property owners. A health cost subsidized amount may be included in the yearly owner property tax. A letter from the county should be given stating its campaign purpose. The letter will also include the subsidized tool test kit with the contact information of radon removal expert companies.

Blog about the elements of your awareness campaign.

Sample campaign:

Campaign letters to households from the local health agency. (The letter includes a radon electronic testing device like one pictured below)

RADON is in your home! You cannot smell it or see it, but we can detect it. Just place this device as instructed, and we’ll read it.

Why test for radon? It is the second leading cause of lung cancer.

How to test for radon? Just place the device in your home as instructed.

What’s next? Your local health agency will notify you of your home’s radon level.

What if the radon level is high in my home? Radon can be contained 99%. Call a radon expert. A list of radon experts is included with this letter.

M4.2 Blog Assignment: National Library ToxNet

According to the National Library’s ToxNet resource, formaldehyde and bleach are irritants. Exposures to both of these chemicals have concerning effects to humans.

Formaldehyde is naturally produce in small amount in humans. It is also commonly used in building materials (insulation, glues, particle and fiber board), coatings in papers and fabrics, preservatives in mortuaries, and in disinfectants. Indoors may contain formaldehyde from wood products. Hospital workers and households are highly exposed to formaldehyde from disinfectants and laboratory products by inhalation and skin contact. Exposure to this chemical causes eye, upper respiratory tract irritation, and respiratory inflammatory responses including wheezing. It is also carcinogenic in human causing cancer of the nasopharynx and leukemia. Women who are exposed to formaldehyde in the garment industry have higher incidence of reproductive problems such as sterility and menstrual problem.

Bleach or sodium hypochlorite is an acid that are commonly mixed with chlorine. Using this product, the general population may be exposed to chlorine gas via oral, inhalation, dermal, and eye contact. The gas can lead to ocular irritation and burns. Dermal contact with this chemical can cause erythema, blister, and burn. Inhalation of the gas can cause irritation of the throat, followed by coughing and wheezing, dyspnea, and chest pain. Exposure to larger amount of this chemical may cause pneumonitis, asthma, hyperchloremic acidosis, anoxia (lack of oxygen), and cardiac arrest. In human experiments, drinking water containing higher than normal chlorine induced chromatid and chromosome breaks, translocation, and gaps. These can cause abnormal changes in the human genes.

M3.5 Transportation

The American Public Health Association (APHA) promotes and supports use of Public transportation. Its benefits include: reduction of air pollution, increased physical activities, reduction in transportation related injuries, and reduction in prevalence of obesity. It will also support the use of Complete Streets methodology. I do not have information yet on this idea, but hope to get one soon.

For the city of Chattanooga-Hamilton County in Georgia, one possible outcome is including new classifications for streets that accommodate all modes. This may include reconstructing unused automobile streets to pedestrian movement. The transportation health goal could also promote activities such as walking and biking.

In Europe, streets and walkways from neighborhood residences and businesses, airports, and international hubs are easy accesses to the public train. Roads and accesses are structured in a way that train stations are in the center. This idea makes walking and biking a way of life for the Europeans.

M3.4 Air Pollution

The following are pollution report for zip code 95122 according to www.scorecard.org (Links to an external site.):

The top five polluters in zip code are: Owens Corning Corp, Hanson Permanente Cement, Strongwell Corp, Chevron Prods. Co. San Jose Terminal, and Headway Techs. Inc. One percent of the houses in the county (95122 Santa Clara) have a high risk of lead hazard. There are 15 superfund sites. Superfund sites are the worst toxic sites in the US. They cause contamination of drinking water in the county. They are all electronic companies like Advanced Micro Devices, Intel Corp, and Hewlett-Packard.

Air quality is at the dirties/worst counties in the US with 90% of Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen oxide, and Sulfur dioxides. Air Quality Index is at 60% (at 101-150 index), which is unhealthy for sensitive groups. Pesticides, sediments, and mercury are the leading pollutants in the bodies of water. The surface water ranks dirtiest to worst (70-80%) in the US. Distribution of toxic chemicals, hazardous air, and Superfund sites are highly distributed to people of color than whites. But hazards are above average for both.

M3.3 Environmental Justice

Those in authority must assure, by all means and by human rights, “everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work” (US EPA, 2007). The latest environmental injustice I do remember is the Flint Water Crisis in Michigan when the drinking water source for the city was changed to the Flint River to cut funding. The total number of deaths is 15. 

The problem began when the city switched its water supply in 2014. Almost immediately, residents of Flint, a majority-black city where 40% of people live in poverty, started complaining about the quality of the water and illnesses. City and state officials denied, for months, that there was a serious problem. Tests in 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Virginia Tech indicated dangerous levels of lead in the water at residents' homes. Of note, Flint is also a home of General Motors Plant.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-a-crisis

https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/us/flint-water-crisis-fast-facts/index.html

M3.2 Vulnerable Population

Dr. Rishi Manchanda presented a very powerful information about recognizing and preventing illnesses from where they begin- where we live, work, and play. Where we spend majority of our lives matters more than our genetic codes. It is also where the 60% source of preventable death lies. Determining the causes of illnesses from where we live must be included in health care systems’ standards of care.

With the powers to change practices, health systems need to create and train what he calls “upstreamists”, individuals (healthcare workers, individual in the community, health agencies, even patients themselves) who have the ability to use tools and assess living conditions for the purpose of determining sources of illnesses. Sources of illnesses could be hazards, toxins, and allergens at home.

https://youtu.be/dJEwC4wCM70

M3.1 Biomonitoring

Upon getting the news from my doctor that the following chemicals that are carcinogens, reproductive and neurotoxicant such as DDT, lead, and dioxins, were to be found in my blood and urine samples, my first thoughts and questions would be are the current levels safe, and would I be further expose and accumulate more of these toxins, and to what point should I be worried for myself and my children. The answer would be no one knows and there are no “safe” levels.

It seems like we are in a wait and see mode. Health officials seem to be not concern as these chemicals “do not cause diseases”. If there are no safe levels, public health departments should at least educate the public of the association of chemical exposures to cancer, neurotoxicity, and infertility. Some sort of public testing for chemicals can also be established for future data use.

Biomonitoring California https://biomonitoring.ca.gov/ was established in 2006. The purpose of the program is to:

1.     Determine levels of environmental chemicals in a representative sample of Californians

2.     Establish trends in the levels of these chemicals over time

3.     Help assess the effectiveness of public health efforts and regulatory programs to decrease exposures to specific chemicals.