interventions to reduce the risks and impacts. Note that interventions can be focused on any or all of the components creating a toxic contamination problem. These could include: elimination of the source (such as waste removal or elimination of use of a toxic substance in a process); control of migration routes (such as installation of pollution control equipment or covering waste piles); elimination of pathways (such as covering or paving contaminated areas or providing clean drinking water sources); or reducing the people in contaminated areas (such as by fencing off disposal sites). TSIP Overall Process Step 1: Create a National Inventory of site screenings. Step 2: Hold a conference with government Ministries, partners, Pure Earth and international donor agencies. Review National Inventory to identify national priorities and critical sites. Identify sources of funding for cleanup projects. Create a “Toxics Action Plan.” Step 3: Implement cleanup projects at priority sites. TSIP Management Structure TSIP Director – Bret Ericson is the TSIP Director and oversees all aspects of the project. Regional Directors – Each region has a Regional Director in the New York office (see contacts list). This person oversees Regional Coordinators in their regions. The Regional Director is responsible for setting regional priorities and budgets, coordinating regional activities, reviewing site screenings, and processing financial reports. Regional Coordinators – Regional Coordinators are Pure Earth staff members or consultants who are located in the region they coordinate. Regional Coordinators are responsible for coordinating site screenings with investigators, reviewing site screenings to ensure quality, reviewing financial reports, and helping Regional Directors with other regional program activities. Country Coordinators – Pure Earth has Country Coordinators in countries where the organization is very active,
Pure Earth uses the database to help national governments evaluate existing and potential environmental health problems, analyze trends, and set priorities for cleanup.. Will my site screening lead to a cleanup project at the site? One goal of the inventory is to help Pure Earth and local governments identify sites that require immediate attention. There is never a guarantee that your site screening will lead to a cleanup project, but if the screening indicates there is a significant public health risk, it is a possibility. Investigators should explain the program goals to any curious locals, but should not promise any further action or create expectations among the local population that the site will be cleaned. How do I locate polluted sites to assess? are many ways to identify sites. Here are some good sources: Ask your Country Coordinator or Regional Coordinator for a site list. Ask a environmental organization or university environmental studies department. Ask the local government (starting with the pollution control agency or health agency). Specifically ask about industrial areas, and if industries for which Pure Earth often finds contamination issues are present. Search newspaper records for articles about polluted sites. Search for reports from the government, World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, or other organizations. Search for peer-reviewed journal articles about polluted sites. What if a site does not currently affect people, but in the near future? Some do not have immediate chemical exposures to humans but may pose a risk to people in the near future. For example, a rusting storage tank of ammonia is threatening to burst, and then poison a local population. While there are no test results that show an immediate pathway to a population, clearly this site is a risk to human health. In this case, list the affected population as the number of people at risk if the tank fails and leaks. List as much information related to the potential hazard as you can – describing the issue to others so they can visualize the problem, and your thinking on your screening. What language should I use when I enter information into the database? You are free to information in your local language or English. If you enter your screening in your local language, we will translate it and paste English text next to your original text. We will not delete your text. What is the Pure Earth Index? The Pure Earth Index is a score from that indicates the relative human health risk posed by a site (10 indicates the highest risk). The Pure Earth Index is automatically generated from data about pollutant types, pollutant concentrations, pathways, and