---

PETITIONED HEALTH CONSULTATION

BREWTON SITES

FALCON INDUSTRIES
TIMBERLANDS LANDFILL
BREWTON IRON WORKS
ALLIED FOUNDRY,
TR MILLER MILL,
CONTAINER CORPORATION,
BREWTON, ESCAMBIA COUNTY, ALABAMA

APPENDIX A

Site Map

Figure 1. Vicinity Map

APPENDIX B

Evaluation of Environmental Contamination and Potential Exposure Pathways
Methodology

Quality Assurance

In preparing this report, ATSDR relied on the information provided in the referenced documents and by contacts with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). ATSDR assumes that adequate quality assurance and control measures were taken during chain-of-custody, laboratory procedures, and data reporting. The validity of the analyses and conclusions drawn in this document are determined by the availability and reliability of the information.

Human Exposure Pathway Evaluation and the use of ATSDR Comparison Values

ATSDR assesses a site by evaluating the level of exposure in potential or completed exposure pathways. An exposure pathway is the way chemicals may enter a person's body to cause a health effect. It includes all the steps between the release of a chemical and the population exposed: (1) a chemical release source, (2) chemical movement, (3) a place where people can come into contact with the chemical, (4) a route of human exposure, and (5) a population that could be exposed. In this consultation, ATSDR evaluates the municipal water that people living in nearby neighborhoods consume, which might cause a chemical exposure to compounds detected in the groundwater.

Data evaluators use comparison values (CVs), which are screening tools used to evaluate environmental data that is relevant to the exposure pathways. Comparison values are concentrations of contaminants that are considered to be safe levels of exposure. Comparison values used in this document include ATSDR's environmental media evaluation guide (EMEG) and cancer risk evaluation guide (CREG). Comparison values are derived from available health guidelines, such as ATSDR's minimal risk levels and EPA's cancer slope factor.

The derivation of a comparison value uses conservative exposure assumptions, resulting in values that are much lower than exposure concentrations observed to cause adverse health effects; thus, insuring the comparison values are protective of public health in essentially all exposure situations. That is, if the concentrations in the exposure medium are less than the CV, the exposures are not of health concern and no further analysis of the pathway is required. However, while concentrations below the comparison value are not expected to lead to any observable health effect, it should not be inferred that a concentration greater than the comparison value will necessarily lead to adverse effects. Depending on site-specific environmental exposure factors (for example, duration of exposure) and activities of people that result in exposure (time spent in area of contamination), exposure to levels above the comparison value may or may not lead to a health effect. Therefore, ATSDR's comparison values are not used to predict the occurrence of adverse health effects.

The comparison values used in this evaluation are defined as follows: The CREG is a concentration at which excess cancer risk is not likely to exceed one case of cancer in a million persons exposed over a lifetime. The CREG is a very conservative CV that is used to estimate cancer risk. Exposure to a concentration equal to or less than the CREG is defined as an insignificant risk and is an acceptable level of exposure over a lifetime. The risk from exposure is not considered as a significant risk unless the exposure concentration is approximately 10 times the CREG and exposure occurs over several years. The EMEG is a concentration at which daily exposure for a lifetime is unlikely to result in adverse noncancerous effects [19].

Selecting Contaminants of Concern

Contaminants of concern (COCs) are the site-specific chemical substances that the health assessor selects for further evaluation of potential health effects. Identifying contaminants of concern is a process that requires the assessor to examine contaminant concentrations at the site, the quality of environmental sampling data, and the potential for human exposure [4]. A thorough review of each of these issues is required to accurately select COCs in the site-specific human exposure pathway. The following text describes the selection process.

In the first step of the COC selection process, the maximum contaminant concentrations are compared directly to health comparison values. ATSDR considers site-specific exposure factors to ensure selection of appropriate health comparison values. If the maximum concentration reported for a chemical was less than the health comparison value, ATSDR concluded that exposure to that chemical was not of public health concern; therefore, no further data review was required for that chemical. However, if the maximum concentration was greater than the health comparison value, the chemical was selected for additional data review. In addition, any chemicals detected that did not have relevant health comparison values were also selected for additional data review.

Comparison values have not been developed for some contaminants, and, based on new scientific information other comparison values may be determined to be inappropriate for the specific type of exposure. In those cases, the contaminants are included as contaminants of concern if current scientific information indicates exposure to those contaminants may be of public health concern.

The next step of the process requires a more in-depth review of data for each of the contaminants selected. Factors used in the selection of the COCs included the number of samples with detections above the minimum detection limit, the number of samples with detections above an acute or chronic health comparison value, and the potential for exposure at the monitoring location.

APPENDIX C

Groundwater Contaminants Detected Above ATSDR's Comparison Values

Table 1. Groundwater Contaminants Detected in Brewton Water Works Municipality.

Compound	Concentration Range (ppb)	Date Detected	Number of Detects	Comparison Value (ppb)	Reference
Dibromochloro- methane	0.5 - 1.8	1995	6/7	0.4	CREG
Bromodichloro- methane	00.6 - 5.4	1995	8/9	0.6	CREG
Ethylene Dibromide	0.9	1995	1/5	0.004	CREG

Table 2. Groundwater Contaminants Detected in Container Corporation's (Jefferson Smurfit) Private Well.

Compound	Concentration Range (ppb)	Date Detected	Number of Detects	Comparison Value (ppb)	Reference
Ethylene Dibromide	0.3	5/95	1/5	0.004	CREG

ppb:	part per billion
CREG:	Cancer Risk Evaluation Guide

Table of Contents