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Environmental Health
Environmental health hazards include air pollution, infectious agents associated with food and water, diseases transmitted by insects and rodents, hazardous chemicals, wastes, occupational exposures, ionizing radiation, as well as factors that produce psychological stress such as noise and urban crowding. Humans introduce the majority of these hazards into the environment. Generally the environmental quality of Travis County and the Central Texas Area is good.
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Generally the environmental quality of Travis County and the Central Texas Area is good.
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Several different federal, state and local public health agencies are responsible for overseeing and ensuring environmental quality.
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Water Quality
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- The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) is the principle agent responsible for reviewing all Texas drinking water sources. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations ensure that tap water is safe to drink. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides the same protection for bottled water (Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission [TNRCC], September 2000).
- There are numerous drinking water suppliers in the Central Texas area, including many municipal utility districts, city and county utilities, and public and private wells operated under the direction, guidance, and review of TNRCC. The EPA requires that all drink water suppliers provide a water quality report to their customers on an annual basis.
- Customers of the City of Austin Water and Wastewater Utility receive their drinking water from three water treatment plants that rely on surface water from the Colorado River. The City of Austin treats and filters the water from these lakes according to federal and state standards to remove any possible harmful contaminants. Contaminants that may be present in the source water include:
- Biological contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria
- Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals
- Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, storm water runoff, and residential uses
- Organic chemicals from industrial or petroleum use and radioactive materials.
- On October 26, 1999, the Texas Department of Health and the Austin-Travis County Health Department lifted the public health advisory against eating fish from Town Lake. The advisory was prompted in 1987 by the presence of chlordane in fish samples. Used for termite control, the chlordane chemical compound was banned in the United States in 1988 because it is suspected of causing cancer in humans (City of Austin Watershed Protection, September 2000).
*The results presented here are from the most recent testing done in accordance with regulations. There were over 50 other substances tested for in 1999 that were not detected.
Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
- In spite of efforts by multiple agencies to ensure safe drinking water, incidences of contamination still occur, emphasizing the importance of public health monitoring and surveillance systems.
On July 13, 1998, a lightning strike during a thunderstorm shorted the controls of a sewage lift station near the Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District (MUD). Brushy Creek MUD serves a number of neighborhoods in the Brushy Creek-Cat Hollow area adjacent to Round Rock near the Williamson County-Travis County line. Following the lightning strike, approximately 167,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into Brushy Creek, contaminating drinking supplies.
Water samples from five Brushy Creek MUD wells tested positive for Escherichia coli which is indicative of fecal contamination. Travis and Williamson County health officials assisted by TDH investigated 189 households in the area. Ninety (47%) of those households reported one or more family members ill. The most commonly reported symptom was diarrhea. Laboratory reports confirmed cryptosporidiosis in 89 Brushy Creek residents. Approximately 6,000 people were exposed to contaminated drinking water from July 14 through July 21. It is estimated the 1,440 residents became ill during the outbreak.
Cryptosporidium parvum is a single-celled parasite that can live in the intestines of humans, farm animals, wild animals, and household pets. The parasite cysts are shed in the feces of infected animals and people, and can be transmitted to the next host when fecal contaminated food or water is ingested. Intestinal cryptosporidiosis causes a self-limiting watery diarrhea that lasts from a few days to a few weeks. Patients also frequently experience abdominal cramps, headaches, nausea, and occasionally vomiting. There is no treatment for cryptosporidiosis. A variety of exposures have been associated with cryptosporidiosis outbreaks, including attendance at daycare centers; consumption of contaminated fruits, vegetables, or drinking water; and exposure to sick animals. Prior to 1998, the last major waterborne cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Texas occurred in Braun Station, near San Antonio, in 1983. (Texas Department of Health, 1998, p.21)
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Solid Waste
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- A key component of the public health and environmental protection agenda is solid waste control. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), which has statewide regulatory oversight, considers "solid waste" to include:
- Garbage
- Refuse
- Sludge from waste treatment plants, water supply treatment plants, or air pollution control facilities
- Other discarded material including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations and from community and institutional activities.
- Solid waste is categorized as hazardous, industrial non-hazardous, and municipal.
- There were no local facilities for the disposal of industrial non-hazardous waste or for the recycling, treatment, or disposal of commercial hazardous waste. Therefore, the major issue is the safe transport of hazardous waste out of and through our metropolitan area. The Travis County Local Emergency Planning Committee has undertaken a roadway commodity flow and risk comparison study as part of its emergency preparedness responsibilities. The study may be completed by the end of 2000 (Austin City Connection, September 2000, Hazardous Waste Disposal for Small Businesses).
- The TNRCC estimates that the local region landfill facilities are 19 to 27 years away from reaching capacity depending on:
- Amounts of solid waste received from other parts of the state
- Future population increase
- Enhancement of recycling programs (Austin City Connection, September 2000, Hazardous Waste Disposal for Small Businesses).
- Paper and yard waste, which together account for 56% (by weight) of the materials disposed of at Texas landfills, represent the most productive targets for recycling and waste reduction efforts. Accordingly, the City of Austin has implemented aggressive programs to address these targets (Austin City Connection, September 2000, Hazardous Waste Disposal for Small Businesses).
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Sewage/Wastewater Disposal
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- Sewage/wastewater and solid waste disposal issues overlap, particularly with regard to the disposal of certain varieties of non-hazardous liquid waste.
- Operated by the City of Austin Water and Wastewater Utility, several large wastewater treatment plants with an extensive collection network serve the City of Austin and certain nearby areas. These plants discharge to the Colorado River with regulatory oversight by the TNRCC.
- Smaller "package" wastewater treatment plants serve suburban areas, typically Municipal Utility Districts. In an effort to protect its water supply, the City of Austin monitors approximately 50 package wastewater plants within Travis County on a quarterly basis.
- Rural areas are generally served with on-site sewage facility systems (OSSFs). Generally OSSFs are designed to treat discharges of less than 5,000 gallons per day (in most cases far less). More than 30,000 OSSF systems are now in place within Travis County, approximately 6,000 of which are inside the City of Austin (City of Austin Watershed Protection, September 2000). Many OSSFs are in environmentally sensitive areas where it has not been feasible to extend collection lines from centralized treatment systems.
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Air Quality
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- Air quality in the Austin-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson counties) has been declining in recent years as a result of increased polluting activities in this area and the regional airshed.
- In 1999, the amounts of ground-level ozone recorded at regional monitoring sites exceeded the maximum amount allowed under the Federal Clean Air Act. For violating this standard, the Central Texas region is now subject to a non-attainment designation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (TNRCC, September 2000).
- Ø The Central Texas region has evolved from a medium-sized city surrounded by rural land and distinct small towns into a metropolitan area of more than one million people. Local activities that pollute the air have also increased. These activities include the number of vehicle miles traveled, the use of polluting landscaping machinery, the construction of buildings and infrastructure, industrial emissions, and power generation by fossil fuels.
- The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that combine in the air to form ground-level ozone come from various sources. In some cities industries are major polluters, but in Central Texas the culprit is vehicles on the road. A January 2000 poll by the Sustainability Indicators Project of Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties reported that 92 percent of area residents commuted in private passenger vehicles for an average 21.4 minutes each way. Off-road engines, such as those in construction equipment or motorboats, are also a major source (TNRCC, September 2000).
- Current estimates show that as much as 75 percent of the ground-level ozone in the greater Austin area is due to motor vehicles. It is also estimated that ten percent of vehicles produce 90 percent of vehicular pollution. The APD enforces the State statute concerning smoking vehicles (TNRCC, September 2000).
- Area-wide agencies and organizations have developed a coalition called the CLEAN AIR Force (CAF) to keep Austin air clean. The CLEAN AIR Force is an independent, non-profit group of government agencies and environmental and business organizations in Travis, Hays, and Williamson Counties. The mission of the group is to create programs consisting of educational and voluntary actions that citizens can take to reduce pollution. Programs include Ozone Action Days, a voluntary trip reduction program called Commute Solutions, a 1996 air pollution emissions inventory, and analysis of options for long-term pollution reduction (Austin City Connection, September 2000, Air Quality Program).
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Ozone Is a Health Hazard
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- The biggest concern with high ozone concentration is the damage it causes to human health, vegetation, and to many common materials we use.
- High concentrations of ozone can cause shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, headaches, nausea, eye and throat irritation, and lung damage. People who suffer from lung diseases like bronchitis, pneumonia, emphysema, asthma, and colds have even more trouble breathing when the air is polluted.
- Each year in the Central Texas area there are between 1,500 and 2,000 hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, which include chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma.
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Lead
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- Lead poisoning is entirely preventable. However, nearly one million children living in the United States have lead levels in their blood that are high enough to cause irreversible damage to their health (National Center for Environmental Health [NCEH], September 2000).
- Lead exposure in young children is of concern because their developing nervous system is particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of lead. In addition, children absorb lead more readily than adults do.
- One of the most important risk factors for lead exposure is the age of the residence. Over 80 percent of all homes built before 1978 in the U.S. have lead-based paint in them. The older the house, the more likely it is to contain lead-based paint and a higher concentration of lead in the paint (NCEH, September 2000).
- In November of 1997, the CDC issued new guidance for the prevention of childhood lead poisoning. The CDC called for greater public health leadership at the state and local levels and discussed the need for state health officials to examine local conditions that can contribute to lead hazards and to design a data-driven screening recommendation based upon their findings. Several steps are outlined as to how to undertake this process including forming a professionally diverse advisory committee and assessing existing lead exposure and screening capacity (NCEH, September 2000).
- In Travis County, there were 29 children reported with blood levels greater than the mandatory reporting level of 10 micrograms per deciliter and 20 reported in 1999. Any children with a blood lever greater the 15 micrograms per deciliter are assigned a case medical manager to follow their progress until the levels falls below 10 micrograms per deciliter. Travis County routinely maintains approximately 30 children on case management.
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Food Safety
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- Food safety experts are calling for increased education about safe food handling because of the following factors that make controlling foodborne pathogens particularly challenging:
- Emerging pathogens demand even greater food safety vigilance.
- The food supply has become global with many different countries supplying food products to the U.S.
- More food is prepared and consumed away from home.
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The Causes of Foodborne Illness
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- Because harmful microorganisms are present everywhere in the environment, any food can become contaminated if not properly handled before consumption. Consider these facts:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists four sources of foodborne illness: disease-causing bacteria, viruses, parasites, and toxins. Some are very common and account for the majority of reported illnesses.
- Half of all foodborne outbreaks reported to the CDC have no identifiable cause. However, most of the outbreaks are due to microorganisms in food. At least 30 pathogens are commonly associated with foodborne illness.
- E. coli O157:H7, salmonella enteritidis, listeria monocytogenes, and campylobacter jejuni have been targeted by the CDC as the four bacterial pathogens of greatest concern. Also of concern to the CDC are other bacterial pathogens such as vibrio vulnificus and yersinia enterocolitica, clostridium perfringens, and staphylococcus aureus.
- Most cases of foodborne illness in healthy adults are self-limiting and of short duration. Diarrhea, cramps, and vomiting are the most common acute symptoms of many foodborne illnesses and can range from mild to severe.
- The National Center for Health Statistics estimates the number of deaths per year from foodborne illness to be 9,100. While the likelihood of serious complications is unknown, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that about two to three percent of all foodborne illness cases lead to secondary long-term illnesses. For example, e. coli O157:H7 can cause kidney failure in young children and infants; salmonella can lead to reactive arthritis and serious infections; listeria can cause meningitis and stillbirths; and campylobacter may be the most common precipitating factor for Guillain-Barre syndrome (Partnership for Food Safety Education, September 2000).
- Each food establishment in Travis County is evaluated for compliance with food handling regulations an average of 1.46 times per year.
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