1. Radon Efforts in Washington Tina Echeverria

2. 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

3. 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. 3

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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 -

8. 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 ( )
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:

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. Environmental Protection Agency

14. 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

15. 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.

16. Contact and Explore Tina.echeverria@doh.wa.gov
Tracking Network: