PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE
PANAMA CITY, BAY COUNTY, FLORIDA
EPA FACILITY ID: FL157002124
July 24, 2000
Prepared By:
Federal Facilities Assessment Branch
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND GLOSSARY
II. EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION, EXPOSURE PATHWAYS, AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS
- A. EXPOSURE TO DDT IN FRED BAYOU (NO APPARENT PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD)
- Site Description and Background
- Site Investigations
- Public Health Implications and Conclusions
- Public Health Action Plan
- Site Description and Background
- Site Investigations
- Public Health Implications and Conclusions
- Public Health Action Plan
D. WHERRY LANDFILL (INDETERMINATE PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD)
III. COMMUNITY HEALTH CONCERNS
IV. ATSDR CHILD HEALTH INITIATIVE
LIST OF TABLES
1. Summary of ATSDR's Public Health Conclusions for Tyndall Air Force Base
3. Description of Sampling and Summary of Results at Wherry Landfill
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Site Map of Tyndall Air Force Base
3. Bay View Housing (Formerly known as Wherry II Housing) Before Removal of 25 Homes
LIST OF APPENDICES
| APPENDIX A | LIST OF INSTALLATION RESTORATION PROGRAM SITES AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT UNITS |
|---|---|
| APPENDIX B | PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT CONCLUSION CATEGORIES |
| APPENDIX C | FRED BAYOU-DDT, DDD, DDE AND WATER AND SEDIMENT SAMPLING DATA SUMMARY |
| APPENDIX D | SUMMARY OF FISH ANALYSIS |
| APPENDIX E | DESCRIPTION OF CHEMICALS FOUND IN FISH AND SEDIMENTS |
| APPENDIX F | ATSDR COMMENTS ON HUMAN HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT FOR FRED BAYOU |
| APPENDIX G | SUMMARY OF ASSUMPTIONS USED IN THE HUMAN HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT |
| APPENDIX H | ATSDR COMMENTS ON WHERRY LANDFILL SAMPLING |
| AFB | Air Force Base |
|---|---|
| AFBCA | Air Force Base Conversion Agency |
| AAFES | Army Airforce Exchange Service; a military service providingmerchandise and services to active duty military |
| AOC | Area of Concern. A natural or man-made area or unit that maycontain hazardous chemicals or waste. |
| ATSDR | Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry |
| adverse health effects | Negative or unwanted effects on the health of an individual; forexample, effects may include a specific illness or a generaldecrease in the overall health of a person. |
| aerobic | Occurring in the presence of oxygen. |
| anaerobic | Occurring in the absence of oxygen. |
| aquifer | A geologic (rock) formation through which groundwater movesand that is capable of producing water in sufficient quantities fora well. |
| AVGAS | Aviation fuel |
| BHC | Benzene hexachloride or hexachlorocyclohexane. Aninsecticide that has been used on fruit, vegetable, and forestcrops. |
| BPW | Base production well |
| BRA | Baseline risk assessment; an analysis of the potential adversehealth effects (current or future) caused by hazardous substancereleases. |
| biodegradation | Decomposition of a substance through the action ofmicroorganisms or other natural environmental factors. |
| blank sample | A sample collected and analyzed to determine the level ofcontamination introduced into the environmental samples fromthe sampling technique and analysis. |
| CDC | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
| CERCLA | Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation andLiability Act also known as Superfund |
| CREG | Cancer risk evaluation guide is a concentration in air, soil, or water at which a person's risk of cancer after exposure for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and for 70 years is 1 in 1,000,000. Exposure assumptions for adults are used, since the majority of a person's exposure occurs as an adult. |
| CSF | Cancer slope factor. The CSF is the slope of the oraldose-response curve for cancer. This value is derived by EPAand maintained on its IRIS database and used to estimate the riskfrom carcinogens. |
| Comparison Values orCVs | A concentration of a given contaminant in soil, water, or airbelow which no adverse human health effects are expected tooccur. Comparison values are used by ATSDR health assessorsto select environmental contaminants for further evaluation andcan be based on either carcinogenic effects or noncarcinogeniceffects. |
| conduit | A natural or artificial channel through which materials such asfluids are transported; for example, a water well |
| Detection limit or methoddetection limit | A minimum concentration of chemical that is detectable at aknown confidence limit. |
| DDD | 1,1-dichloro-2,2- bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane; a chemicalcontaminant and degradation product of DDT. |
| DDE | 1,1-dichloro-2,2- bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene; a chemicalcontaminant and degradation product in DDT. |
| DDT | 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane; a chemicalintroduced in the United States and widely used to controlinsects on agricultural crops and insects that carry diseases likemalaria and typhus. |
| DOD | United States Department of Defense |
| EMEG | Environmental media evaluation guide; a concentration in air,soil, or water below which no adverse noncancer health effectsare expected to occur. EMEGs are derived from ATSDR'sminimum risk levels (MRLs), and are expressed for acute,intermediate, and chronic exposures. They are used in selectingenvironmental contaminants for further evaluation. |
| EOD | Explosive ordnance disposal |
| EPA | United States Environmental Protection Agency |
| EBS | Environmental Baseline Survey is a report documenting thebases environmental status. |
| Feasibility study | A study conducted to determine the best alternative forremediating environmental contamination based on a number offactors including health risk and costs. |
| gpm | Gallons per minute |
| groundwater | Water beneath the earth's surface |
| HQ/HI hazard quotient/hazard index | Hazard quotient (HQ); a comparison of the daily humanexposure to a substance to the minimum risk level (MRL). TheHQ is used as an assessment of noncancer associated toxiceffects of chemicals, e.g., kidney or liver dysfunction. It isindependent of a cancer risk, which is calculated only for thosechemicals identified as carcinogens. A hazard index or quotientof one or less is generally considered safe. A ratio greater thanone suggests further evaluation. Hazard index (HI); a summation of the HQ for all chemicalsbeing evaluated. A hazard index value of one or less means thatno adverse human health effects (noncancer) are expected tooccur. A ratio greater than one suggests further evaluation. |
| HUD | Housing and Urban Development |
| HVAC | Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system |
| ingestion | Eating and drinking |
| IRP | Installation Restoration Program; a program of the Departmentof Defense to clean up environmental contamination. |
| isomers | Any of two or more substances that are composed of the sameelements in the same proportions, but differ in propertiesbecause of differences in the arrangement of atoms (HoughtonMifflin 1996). The prefix of 2,4' for an isomer represents thepositions of atoms on a molecule. |
| L | Liter |
| LRA | Local redevelopment authority; a group formed by the affectedcommunity and recognized by the Department of Defense. TheLRA is the single entity responsible for base reuse planningactivities at the local level. |
| MCL | Maximum contaminant level; a concentration of a chemical thatcannot be legally exceeded in a public drinking water supplysystem. The MCL is devised and enforced by U.S. EPA. Statesmay also enforce the MCL and they may develop more stringentvalues. |
| medical monitoring | A set of medical tests and physical exams specifically designedto evaluate whether an individual is being exposed to aparticular chemical at concentrations that could negatively affectthat person's health. |
| migration | Moving from one location to another |
| mg/kg | Milligram per kilogram |
| mg/cm2 | Milligram per square centimeter |
| mg/m3 | Milligrams per cubic meter; a measure of the concentration of achemical in a known amount (a cubic meter) of air. |
| MOGAS | Automobile gasoline |
| MRL | Minimum risk level; an ATSDR estimate of the daily humanexposure to a substance below which no adverse noncancerhealth effects are expected to occur. MRLs are available foracute, intermediate, and chronic exposures. |
| munitions | Explosive devices; for example, grenades and bombs. |
| ND | Not detected; used to indicate that a substance was not detectedat the analytical limits of the equipment and procedures. |
| NPL | National Priorities List for Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites. This is the list of EPA's most hazardous waste sites in theUnited States. |
| NOAEL | No observed adverse effect level; the dose of chemical at whichthere were no statistically or biologically significant increases infrequency or severity of adverse effects seen between theexposed population and its appropriate control. Effects may beproduced at this dose, but they are not considered to be adverse. |
| ng/m3 | Nanograms per cubic meter |
| ordnance | Military materiel, such as weapons, ammunition, explosives,combat vehicles, and equipment. |
| PAHs | Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; a group of chemicals that areformed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, wood,garbage, or other organic substances, such as tobacco andcharbroiled meat. There are more than 100 different PAHs. |
| Pb | Lead |
| PbB | Lead in blood |
| PCBs | Polychlorinated biphenyls; a group of synthetic organicchemicals that contain 209 individual but similar compounds(known as congeners). |
| PCE | Perchloroethene, also known as tetrachloroethene |
| PHA | Public health assessment |
| POL | Petroleum, oils, and lubricates |
| ppb | Parts per billion |
| ppm | Parts per million |
| RCRA | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976, 1984); an actthat regulates management and disposal of hazardous wastes currently generated, treated, stored, disposed of, or distributed. |
| RFA | RCRA facility assessment; an assessment required by RCRA toidentify potential and actual releases of hazardous chemicals. |
| RfD or Reference Dose | An estimate of the daily exposure to the people that is likely tohave no measurable risk of harmful health effects during alifetime exposure or exposure during a limited time interval. |
| RI/FS | Remedial investigation/feasibility study; the CERCLA processof determining the type and extent of hazardous materialcontamination at a site and the options for cleanup. |
| Restoration AdvisoryBoard (RAB) | A committee of public and private citizens formed to serve as afocal point for information exchange between military bases,private citizens, and other public agencies. |
| Risk | A qualitative and quantitative expression of the probability ofpotential cancerous adverse health effects occurring at specificlevels of exposure to chemical or physical hazards. Adversehealth effects can be the result of noncancer and cancer. Riskfrom cancer adverse health effects are expressed as a probabilitysuch as 1 in 1,000,000 (also expressed 1 × 10-6 or 1E-6). Thismeans that there is a probability of 1 in 1,000,000 that an excesscancer will occur in the population over a lifetime. Other riskvalues considered are 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 100,000. A noncancer health risk is expressed as a hazard quotient. |
| SWMU | Solid waste management unit. A term RCRA uses in RFAs todescribe areas or man-made units that contain or handle wastematerials. |
| solvent | A liquid capable of dissolving or dispersing another substance;for example, acetone or mineral spirits. |
| TCE | Trichloroethene |
| TDS | Total dissolved solids |
| treatment technique | A specific treatment method required by EPA to be used tocontrol the level of a contaminant in drinking water. In specificcases where EPA has determined it is not technically oreconomically feasible to establish an MCL, EPA can insteadspecify a treatment technique. |
| gL | Micrograms per liter |
| gdL | Micrograms per deciliter; a measure of the concentration of achemical in a known amount (deciliter) of liquid; for example,the concentration of lead in a blood sample |
| g/m3 | Microgram per cubic meter. |
| VOC | Volatile organic compound |
