GIS SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LEAD IN SOILS NEAR THE NEW JERSEY CITY UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Lead is a known neurotoxin. In 2007, a project was undertaken to map the concentrations of lead in soils of Jersey City. The focus of our 2007 GIS-based project was on public parks, playgrounds, and little league fields within a 4.5 km buffer of New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ. These locations were chosen based on the ability to collect samples from areas where children may have a high probability of exposure to contaminated soil. In 2008, we narrowed our focus to two parks (Hamilton & Van Vorst) because of their historical significance.

GIS-based maps were formulated using datasets from several sources. Known Contaminated Site Lists and historical fill shapefiles are publicly available through the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection. Digital images of historic (late 19th and early 20th century) maps of Jersey City were rectified in ArcView 9.2, and a shape file of potential sources of heavy metals was created. This enabled proper spatial positioning of these potentially important historical sources of lead in order to evaluate their contributions to the contamination present today. Fill has been used extensively in Jersey City to create new land area or raise topographic elevation. Locally, the composition of the fill is unknown; regionally it contains chemical and ore processing waste. Parcel and street centerline shapefiles are proprietary, but were provided courtesy of Jersey City Planning. Roads, railroad lines, public schools, public parks, playgrounds and little league fields are also highlighted on the GIS map. Soil sampling locations were captured using a high resolution unit (Trimble GeoExplorer 3) and subsequently downloaded onto the map. Sample locations are displayed as points on a GIS map and contain the following information: pictures of site, lead concentration in soil, texture of soil and whether or not site is on the ‘Known Contaminated Site Inventory'.