Abstract
We model the transportation of lead from the atmosphere and from the surface of the soil simultaneously at the macroscale and mesoscale to study its health effects on children in Jersey City, NJ. We conceptualize Jersey City as an open system where lead is continuously emitted from a local smelting plant and a local power plant, deposited onto the surface soil of playgrounds, and ingested by children. The model is constructed using the diffusion-advection partial differential equation in three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension with an initial condition and boundary conditions. The model is solved using the Crank-Nicolson numerical method at the macroscale to determine the deposition of lead from the smelting plant and the local power plant and at the mesoscale to refine the amount of lead deposition for the areas considered. We then determine the health consequences for the average child using the bioaccessibility of lead from soil to children, the bioavailability of ingested lead to the circulatory system, and the biological half-life of lead isotopes in the blood. The health effects on children from lead are directly proportional to the blood lead concentration.
Highlights
We model the transportation of lead from the atmosphere and from the surface of the soil simultaneously at the macroscale and mesoscale to study its health effects on children in Jersey City, NJ
The second largest city in the State of New Jersey, Jersey City, is a preeminent commercial, distribution, and transportation hub for the Tristate Area [2,3,4], Jersey City has not been immune to the decline in manufacturing so characteristic of postindustrial, globalized America
We focus on four public parks in Jersey City
Summary
On June 22, 2012, officials of the City of Jersey City announced the closure of downtown-area Mary Benson Park [1]. Once home to the production of such popular brands as American Can, Emerson Radio, Lorillard, Colgate, Dixon Ticonderoga, and Chloro, Jersey City claims only four industrial centers: Greenville Yards, Claremont Industrial Park, Montgomery Industrial Park, and Liberty Industrial Park [2,3,4]. It is unfortunate, that this reduction in manufacturing coupled with the ban on leaded gasoline has not resulted in the elimination of the threat of lead poisoning: the accumulation of lead in the soil of industrial areas has created a problem that persists. We focus on four public parks in Jersey City
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