SPH and two local non-profits will conduct a health impact assessment of Seattle's Lower Duwamish Waterway to ensure an EPA cleanup plan will have minimal impact on residents and fishermen.

The assessment will focus on key health issues, including the consumption of contaminated seafood, air and soil pollution, as well as concerns such as construction noise, traffic safety, and access to goods and services in the neighborhoods surrounding the site during and after cleanup.

The Lower Duwamish was highly polluted from decades of industrial use, and a 5.5-mile stretch of the river in South Seattle was declared a Superfund site in 2001. High concentrations of contaminants – including arsenic, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) – have been found in the shoreline, sediments, fish and shellfish, and nearby neighborhoods.

The EPA has been studying proposed cleanup plans, which vary in how much contamination will be removed from the river, buried under constructed caps, or left to recover naturally over time. The final plan will be chosen later this year.

"How EPA's cleanup plan will affect particular communities is not well understood," said Bill Daniell, an SPH environmental and occupational epidemiologist and associate professor. "This study will help fill in some of the gaps."

The research will be carried out by SPH environmental health researchers and two nonprofit groups: Just Health Action and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group. The assessment is supported by a grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. It was one of 15 health impact assessments awarded across the nation.

Cleanup costs will be borne by the City of Seattle, King County, Port of Seattle, Boeing Company, and other riverside industries responsible for historic and ongoing pollution. Cleanup of the river will take years to complete, and decades longer for natural flora, fish, and wildlife to fully recover.

Researchers will also examine the short- and long-term health impacts of the proposed cleanup and administrative controls (such as fish advisories and other restrictions) on three vulnerable populations: residents of two mostly low-income and minority communities next to the river; Native American tribes who actively fish in the river; and immigrant and low-income subsistence fishers.

"We want to ensure the best cleanup and minimize any unintended consequences," said BJ Cummings, Community Health Projects Manager for the Duwamish coalition, which serves as the EPA's Community Advisory Group for the Superfund cleanup.

Findings from the assessment and recommendations for mitigation measures will be provided to the EPA during public review of the proposed cleanup plan this fall.