Radon Efforts in Washington Tina Echeverria

State of Radon Regulations to monitor radon levels in homes exists in limited jurisdictions. Limited focus in Healthy Homes programs Investigated geology and existing test results to raise awareness Spokane County and tribes in eastern WA are aware of and monitor radon. This is one of the main areas of known exposure levels, there was a Uranium mine in the region. Local Health Jurisdictions have Healthy Homes programs. The focus is usually Asthma triggers but sometimes radon is on the discussion list. Radon Report 1994 was our starting point

Washington Tracking Network (WTN) Radon Communications Communications/Outreach News release More than 10 media outlets reported on the topic Included one, two-minute spot on the evening news Tweets Facebook posts Posted map to agency home page Newsletter to internal staff Maps to Local Health Jurisdictions New geology risk map was the news story With outreach visits to our website went from ~200/month to 20,000 following the publication of these maps Communications/Outreach News release went statewide to media outlets More than 10 stories were developed from the release Two-minute spot on King5 news…one of the largest media outlets in Seattle Released two Tweets one in January, one in March One Facebook post Posted the map, a link to WTN, and an short intro to the topic on the agency home page for one month Included two articles about the topic in the agency internal newsletter WTN saw more than 15,000 visits to the page within one month. We will evaluate the public health impact when we get new data from testing companies in September. www.wtn.doh.wa.gov 3

EPA Radon Risk Map: Probability Mapping of High (red >4pCiu/L) Medium (orange 2-<4 pCi/L) or Low (yellow <2 pCi/L) EPA probability mapping is at the county level with a goal of implementing radon-resistant building codes Nationally. This is what was generally used to determine probable risk Not the two high risk areas containing the populous Spokane and Clark counties and large Tribal reservations The Puget Sound region is identified as low risk https://www.epa.gov/radon/find-information-about-local-radon-zones-and-state-contact-information#radonmap

Geology of Washington State1 HOWEVER… the geological map of Washington shows a complex distribution of rock types. The Radon potential map was based on the map of geological formations and the radon potential categories produced for the Special Report: Radon in Washington (1994) Figure5. There were 182 geological formations that were classified into 3 radon potential categories. High radon risk areas are rock formations that have documented uranium deposits or mines either in Washington or world-wide. Moderate risk areas represent deposits from the Missoula Flood that resulted in uneven deposition of uranium bearing rocks in south-central Washington and along the Columbia River. Low risk areas are any other rock forms not in the high or moderate category. On-going: The next step is to validate the categories with the WA Department of Natural Resources (compiled the original map) and the USGS. Scale is 1:100,000 much finer than the previous map of 1: 250,000 HOWEVER… Washington Geological Survey, Interactive Map -- https://fortress.wa.gov/dnr/geology/?Theme=wigm

Geology of Washington State2 There were 182 geological formations that were classified into 3 radon potential categories. High radon risk areas are rock formations that have documented uranium deposits or mines either in Washington or world-wide. Moderate risk areas represent deposits from the Missoula Flood that resulted in uneven deposition of uranium bearing rocks in south-central Washington and along the Columbia River. Low risk areas are any other rock forms not in the high or moderate category. Note the classification of the Puget Sound basin that actually contains moderate and some high rock formations, not the low as in the EPA. This new finding caught the eye of Seattle TV News On-going: The next step is to validate the categories with the WA Department of Natural Resources (compiled the original map) and the USGS. https://test-fortress.wa.gov/doh/wtn/WTNPortal/#!q0=450

The Approach Question: Where have elevated levels of radon in air been measured in buildings? Approach: Map Geological Risk and Documented Elevated Test Results Technique: Obtain all test results, retain the highest test result per address Results: High results were found throughout WA regardless of the Geological Risk. Details: More high test results corresponded to Medium and High risk geologies Message: TEST FIX SAVE A LIFE Increase testing- raise awareness -

The Presentation View the data with: Tables Sortable and downloadable Show the data that are displayed in Charts and Maps Information on Number of Tests, Number and Percentages at 0-2, 2-4 and 4+ pCi/L Information by different geographical units (state, county, census tract) Charts Time series for numbers over time (1989-2015) Bar graphs for county of census tracts Maps Choropleth maps Pop-ups with data for the area of interest The Washington Tracking Network presents data with tables, charts and maps along with metdata notes on an interactive website You can view data with:

Need to publish the data more widely and nationally Effort in response to the National Tracking Networks goals Effort to serve as a conduit between state data and national data Mechanism for that was EPAs Exchange Network- every state flows data to EN: primarily the Deps Ecology with toxins focus.

2015 Percent of Elevated Test Results by County Popup and table provides number of tests, can be as low as 1 test per year. Display highlights where at least one test result was elevated. Clear counties had no tests that year Spokane and Clark counties had over 100 elevated tests Rest of counties less than 10

Census Tract Geography shows where there are no tests Areas with elevated results Can better identify areas with higher probability of radon exposure Can better target areas to increase testing

Puget Sound area, previously considered a low risk area (using EPA map) shows minimal effort to test and that there are elevated results.

Environmental Protection Agency

Exchange Network Availability of National Data EPA data exchange network (share data with EPA and other Network Partners securely via the Internet) 3. Radon data availability (Lead by NJ) 4. Three ways to expose/access data via EN 1- Node on your local server 2- Virtual node- cloud based 3- Service Center - ? All states participate Not many Health Departments participate Could be accessible for all radon data Reduce duplication of effort for Tracking states

Exchange Network Service Center- A tool for making manual data submissions to EPA. Exchange Network Service Center (Send, retrieve, and download information from other partners on the network. ) Data presented in a standard format (manual file submission in any format, including common formats such as XML, JSON, and CSV.

Contact and Explore Tina.echeverria@doh.wa.gov Tracking Network: www.doh.wa.gov/wtn