Mapping Human Risk of Cadmium Contamination.

When environmental contamination plagues a watershed, what determines the fate of the people

in that area? While infrastructure and socioeconomic elements play critical roles, it is crucial to also determine the environmental factors that can ameliorate or exacerbate environmental contamination. Proximity of smelting facilities to waterways, soil particle size, organic matter content, and mineralogy, and surface water and groundwater dynamics are also integral to determining the reach of a contaminant.

Focusing on the heavy metal cadmium, we have mapped case studies of cadmium contamination on a global soil map. By synthesizing pedological, hydrological, and geological information of each area, we create a profile of environmental characteristics pertinent to the risk of human exposure to cadmium at internationally-established toxic levels (e.g. World Health Organization standards).  By integrating well-established environmental fate and toxicology dynamics of cadmium and conferring with any previous studies, we categorize the degree to which harmful human exposure is likely.

As a broader impact, we hope to be able to adapt this classification system to other contaminants, and create analogous maps that visualize site-specific risk as determined by environmental factors.