Date of Award:

5-2015

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Michael J. McFarland

Committee

Michael J. McFarland

Committee

David K. Stevens

Committee

Gilberto E. Urroz

Committee

Roger A. Coulombe, Jr.

Committee

William J. Doucette

Abstract

There continues to be concern among communities living in the vicinity of biosolids land application sites about potential adverse health effects from the chemical contaminants present in biosolids. This study describes a procedure that will help answer questions about the risks involved in biosolids land application at the site level, thus, this study will provide a crucial communication tool for wastewater treatment facilities and biosolids land appliers to address the concerns of the public. Specifically, the study quantifies the exposure concentrations that a human being can become exposed to during their lifetime from the practice. Crucially, it takes a quantitate approach to explain the risk associated with the practice of biosolids land application at the site level. From this modeling effort it can be concluded that biosolids do not present a cause for concern for the four chemical contaminants that were evaluated for a site in Yakima Valley, WA. Additionally, it was realized that a simple tool that only requires inputs that are currently being measured by the wastewater treatment plants or by land appliers can greatly aid stakeholders to get a sense of what is happening at a site. With this, the Biosolids and Groundwater Risk Characterization Tool (BGRST) was developed, which can be used by any stakeholder and is designed to provide the non-cancer risk from drinking groundwater impaired by biosolids land application activities.

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