EAGER: PPER: Empowering Citizen Scientists to Reduce Sources of Emerging Contaminants

EAGER：PPER：授权公民科学家减少新兴污染物的来源

• 批准号: 1743981
• 负责人: Heather Preisendanz
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1743981&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; PPER; Empowering; Citizen; Scientists

Endocrine disrupting compounds are introduced into the environment during various stages of the life cycle of certain personal care products including manufacturing, use, and disposal. Although wastewaters must be treated to meet permit requirements, endocrine disrupting compounds are currently not regulated and therefore the extent to which sewage treatment plants remove them prior to discharge varies widely. Citizen scientists have the potential to play a significant role in the scientific discovery process, and they can participate in identifying potential courses of action and desired legislation.  The goal of this project is to involve citizen scientists in collecting and reporting data concerning the levels of endocrine-disrupting compounds in the water. This study eventually could lead to a reduction in the amount of endocrine disrupting compounds in the Susquehanna River Basin. The methods used in this project have the potential to be transformative and to be applied to other watersheds across the United States that are coping with fish population declines and increasing contaminant concentrations. The project researchers are recruiting approximately 50-60 volunteer citizen scientists to participate in data generation and focus groups meetings to ultimately identify ways to reduce endocrine disrupting compounds in the environment. In this research project, citizen scientists: 1) employ an endocrine disrupting compound footprint tool developed by the researchers to estimate the mass of endocrine disrupting compounds in their personal care, household cleaning, and laundry products; 2) collect water samples from locations across the Susquehanna River Basin to be be analyzed for more than 50 endocrine disrupting compounds from pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and pesticides; 3) participate in focus group meetings to identify research needs and priorities, potential course of action, and desired legislation related to reducing endocrine disrupting compounds in the Susquehanna River Basin. Data generated by the citizen scientists from the endocrine disrupting compound footprint tool and the water quality data provides a potentially powerful insight to enable the citizen scientists to link their usage of common endocrine disrupting compound-containing products to the presence of endocrine disrupting compounds in surface water. This knowledge will empower the citizen scientists to actively make personal decisions to reduce endocrine disrupting compound sources. The inclusion of the Penn State Survey Research Center brings unique focus group expertise to the team. The analytical chemistry expertise through Penn State's water quality laboratory facilities and the USDA ensures that high quality endocrine disrupting compound data is generated. The methodologies used in this proposal have the potential to be transformative and to be applied to other watersheds across the United States that are coping with fish population declines and endocrine disrupting compound concerns.

在某些个人护理产品（包括制造，使用和处置）的生命周期的各个阶段，内分泌干扰化合物被引入环境中。尽管必须处理废水以满足许可要求，但目前不监管内分泌的化合物，因此污水处理厂在放电之前将其清除的程度差异很大。公民科学家有潜力在科学发现过程中发挥重要作用，他们可以参与确定潜在的行动和所需立法。该项目的目的是让公民科学家收集和报告有关水中内分泌中断化合物水平的数据。这项研究最终可能导致Susquehanna河流域中内分泌干扰化合物的量减少。该项目中使用的方法有可能具有变革性，并将应用于美国各地应对鱼类种群下降并增加污染物浓度的流域。项目研究人员正在招募约50-60名志愿公民科学家参加数据生成和焦点小组会议，以最终确定减少环境中内分泌干扰化合物的方法。在这项研究项目中，公民科学家：1）员工是由研究人员开发的内分泌干扰复合足迹工具，旨在估计其个人护理，家庭清洁和洗衣产品中的大量内分泌破坏化合物； 2）从Susquehanna河流盆地的地点收集水样，以分析50多种内分泌干扰物，从药品，个人护理产品和农药中分析化合物； 3）参加焦点小组会议，以确定研究需求和优先事项，潜在的行动方案以及与减少萨斯奎汉纳河流域内分泌干扰化合物有关的理想立法。公民科学家从内分泌中断的复合占地工具和水质数据产生的数据提供了一种潜在的强大见解，以使公民科学家能够将其对含有复合化合物的产品的常见内分泌中分泌产品的用法与在地表水中的内分泌干扰化合物的存在联系起来。这些知识将使公民科学家能够积极做出个人决定，以减少内分泌干扰的复合来源。宾夕法尼亚州调查研究中心的包括为团队带来了独特的焦点小组专业知识。通过宾夕法尼亚州立大学的水质实验室设施和USDA的分析化学专家确保生成高质量的内分泌干扰数据。该提案中使用的方法有可能具有变革性，并将应用于美国各地应对鱼类种群下降和内分泌干扰问题的流域。