1	Great Lakes Environmental and Molecular Sciences (GLEAMS) Center web-based Decision Support System tools for assessing human and ecological health risk MTRI: Dr. Robert Shuchman Colin Brooks Eric Keefauver Ben Koziol Dr. Tyler Erickson
2	GLEAMS Partnership between MTRI (formerly part of Altarum/ERIM) and the Western Michigan University (WMU) Environmental Institute; funded by EPA Address the legacy of contamination on the Great Lakes and their watersheds Help local & state stakeholders understand this legacy Develop watershed-scale methods to assess and protect human and ecosystem health Used the Kalamazoo River watershed as a example site Expanded to Lower Fox River, WI (Green Bay) Modeled PCBs and water quality Added mercury and gene expression tools http://www.greatlakesdecisionsupport.org Science GIS Modeling Outreach Great Lakes information
3	Example Decision Support System (DSS) Scenarios You live in Allegan, Michigan, near the Kalamazoo River Member of a local watershed group trying to understand risks A community leader helping local citizens understand impacts of the legacy of pollution Another audience: Person working on fish consumption guidelines Where are the risky areas? What are the risks? Kalamazoo River – PCBs Used MDEQ reports for assessing risk: Baseline Ecological Risk Assessment (263 pages) Human Health Risk Assessment (169 pages)
4	Food Web Modeling for PCB bioaccumulation
5	Start – River basin
6	Interpolated polygons
7	Sample at that location
8	Accumulation in fish
9	Accumulation in people
10	Modeling cleanup scenarios
11	Integration WMU’s gene and protein expression research results into a mapping interface Display areas where PCB contamination has cause gene or protein damage in carp Label with levels of gene/protein expression Allow users to query data, find out more about variables Help page on GLEAMS portal discussion research Gene & protein expression – another way of expressing risk Working closely with Chuck Ide
12	mRNA Gene Expression DSS Tool
13	Protein DSS Tool
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15	ALWAS – Kalamazoo sites 2004 & 2006 Calculate National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (WQI) User-friendly explanation of WQI available at http://www.nsf.org/consumer/just_for_kids/wqi.asp
16	ALWAS DSS: Mapping water quality Water Quality Index calculated at sample points along the river using ALWAS data as the input
17	ALWAS WQI DSS: demonstrating WQI scenarios Different WQI decision support scenarios can be modeled with GLEAMS WQI tool
18	ALWAS – example 9/2006 data for Maple River and WQI calculation
19	Equivalent tools for mercury – predict human health risk using GIS data & models Goal: Develop a tool to help users understand if local fish consumption is likely to lead to mercury exposure above EPA reference doses, esp. for women of 18-45, using spatial sediment data as starting point Used documented Wisconsin DNR Lower Fox River database Capture complexity of modeling health risk from mercury in a valid & user-friendly on-line mapping interface Enable user interaction, selection of scenarios: help community members to understand level & locations of risks
20	The Complexity of Mercury Modeling Most common aquatic mercury chemical species: Elemental, inert (Hg⁰) Divalent, reactive (Hg²⁺) Organic (MeHg) The first two, non-biologically available forms (elemental and divalent) are the most common often accounting for greater than 90% of total environmental mercury. Opposite is true for biological uptake: > 90% of tissue-bound mercury is MeHg Mercury methylation typically occurs in the inactive, anoxic sediment layer of lakes and streams regulated by sulfide concentration, sulfate-reducing bacteria, pH, DOC/TOC, and temperature. Mercury speciation model incorporates hydrodynamics as well as chemical kinetics to track speciation Challenge is the static methylation, demethylation, oxidation, and reduction rates which are variable and influenced by the properties listed above Another challenge is models do not currently enable mercury to move between ‘finite elements’. Hence, it is important to note that the speciation model is derived from a ‘finite element model’ Bioaccumulation – modeled using a generalized hydrophobic bioaccumulation model. Wide species applicability and simplified calibration procedure Challenging to incorporate the effects of weight and age, highly sensitive to changes in bioconcentration factor Human Health Two methods to assess health risks. Both originate from EPA recommendations: RfD (reference dose) à acceptable blood mercury level that can be physiologically maintained resulting in no noticeable health effects à 0.0001 mg MeHg/kg body weight-day (female and children), 0.0003 (male) TRC (tissue residue criterion) à fish tissue concentration that when consumed will not result in a RfD above the recommended value A simple calculation involving body weight, dietary intake, and fish tissue concentration
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22	Example Data
23	Example Health Risk Scenarios
24	Mercury Tool Demo: Querying data through tool for Lower Fox River
25	Mercury Tool Demo: Bioaccumulation levels in fish
26	Mercury Tool Demo: Are the risk criteria exceeded?
27	GLEAMS Portal - DSS link GLEAMS Portal: www.greatlakesdecisionsupport.org WMU Environmental Institute: www.wmich.edu/env/ MTRI: www.mtri.org