Events Calendar

Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar

Speaker: Felipe de Barros, Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences,Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona (Spain)

Talk Title: A health risk-driven approach for hydrogeological site characterization

Abstract: Obtaining accurate predictions of human health risks from groundwater contamination is a challenge. The main difficulty relies on the fact that many of the components that constitute human health risk assessment are uncertain and requires interdisciplinary knowledge. Amongst these, we highlight two classes of parameters: (1) hydrogeological and (2) health-related. Usually, sampling strategies are developed with the goal of reducing uncertainty, but less often they are developed in the context of their impacts on uncertainty. Understanding the impact from each of these components in human health risk can provide guidance for decision makers to best allocate resources towards minimal prediction uncertainty. One of the key points in risk management consists of knowing where to invest characterization efforts in a cost-effective manner. In this talk, a multi-component health risk-based framework is presented which allows decision makers to set priorities through a visualization tool. Results highlight the role of characteristic length-scales characterizing flow and transport in determining data needs within an integrated hydrogeological-health framework. We illustrate conditions where uncertainty reduction in human health risk may benefit from better understanding of the health component as opposed to a more detailed hydrogeological characterization. Through a series of examples, we show how fundamental knowledge on the main physical mechanisms affecting pollutant and solute pathways are necessary to understand the response of complex systems to varying drivers.

Host: Astani CEE Department

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Cassie Cremeans