Analyze

Dr. Cheney is attempting to answer the following question: What can we learn from the residents about their experience in living with asthma, and can this help us understand the disease?

There are very few hospitals in the area around the Salton Sea--only two in Imperial County and three in the Coachella Valley.

• In 2003, the Imperial Irrigation District signed the Quantification Settlement Agreement, in which they transferred the water from agricultural runoff that formerly fed the Salton Sea to supply municipalities in Southern California. The agreement kept water flowing into the lake until 2018 in order to give time to come up with ways to mitigate environmental effects of the lake's desiccation. These solutions have not materialized.
• UCR scientists are collecting dust for microbial analysis

• Increased salinity
• Waterfowl dieoffs
• Desiccation produces toxic dust that blows
• Childhood asthma and other respiratory conditions
• 15% of Imperial County residents have asthma
• wind-blown dust can act as a pathway for microbes, fungi, and viruses to enter lungs by attaching to dust particles
• Municipal sewage from Mexicali
• Waste from prisons

The "Disparities in Environmental Exposures and Health Impacts" project has four goals:

1. To establish a community advisory board to provide local stakeholder input;
2. To identify spatial patterns and trends in population exposure and in pollutant transport;
3. To distribute particle collectors at sites that represent the range of sources of particulate matter and to identify the elemental and biological composition of particles;
4. To use environmental chamber exposure studies to develop a protocol for monitoring pulmonary inflammation impacts of aerosol particulates identified from the particle collectors.

• The state of California is responsible for implementing and paying for environmental mitigation projects
• The Colorado River flows through multiple states and countries--all have a stake in extra-local actions

New and Alamo Rivers - transboundary movement

• Investors who left in the first half of the 20th century
• Residents who remained in the area (highly Latinx)
• Labor exploitation, especially of immigrants through programs like the Bracero program
• Indigenous groups - especially the Torres Martinez, 40% of whose land is underneath the Salton Sea
• Agriculture
• Historically not identified as an unwanted land use, which allowed farmers to get away with more than other industries

It was reported, that one worker at the industrial park was suffering from eye irritation, following the release of hydrogen chloride. He had to be treated at the outpatient clinic of the industrial parks' Occupational Health Center, and could go home afterwards. There is no further information of long-term effects the worker might have suffered from to be found on the internet, according to my search. However, eye irritation induced by chemical exposure can lead to effects such as increased eye pressure and a following reduction of vision, as well as chronic pain.

I am wondering, how this worker got hurt, as this was not reported in the article. Usually, workers need to wear proper protective equipment in areas in which one risks exosure to airborne chemicals that can cause corrosion, including protective goggles. As can be read in a follow-up article (https://www.fnp.de/frankfurt/frankfurt-gas-trat-aus-weil-ein-rohrleitun…), a pipeline malfunction had been found as the reason for the release, possibly in an area where no protective equipment is required? I can only speculate on this, but the worker seems not have been informed about the incident.

Missing information seems to be a common theme in this case, in the aforementioned article it is also reported that the smartphone application that is supposed to warn residents about such incidents, released a warning only 50 minutes after the sirenes had been going off. Also it is written in the article, that after the incident the citizen telephone line was busy, such that some callers could not get the information they required, and that many residents are not familiar with the meaning of the different signals released by the warning sirene. In case this or similar incidents happen in the future, they therefore pose a grave health risk to the surrounding population.

In this setting, several stakeholders are to be identified:

- Citizens living in Hoechst and surrounding areas and workers at the industrial park: Necessitate information to ensure their safety.

- Infraserv and companies at industrial park: Bad press is bad for image of industrial park, whcih might lead to political or financial consequences; Centralization of information flow on website "ihr-nachbar.de" to create narrative?

- Fire department Frankfurt: Responsibilities as first responders to incidents include information release to public and combat incident.

- Public media/ press: Information of the population as well as economic pressure to release notions that are of interest to public (to gain clicks/sell magazines and newspapers); Need to report correctly to gain/keep trust of potential information consumers.

- Local politicians: Need to take political measures to protect citizens to gain/keep trust of potential voters; Possibly also require good relationship with Infraserv and companies, as many high-profile companies are located at industrail park bringing in tax money.