Projects

• New Jersey Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT)
• U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)’s Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE)/Hazardous Sites Project
• New Jersey Drinking Water and Public Health, Private Well Outreach Project

Outreach

Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT)

• Numerous social media posts during the last five years via NJDOH and NJDEP Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. For example, between August 1, 2023, and July 31, 2024, we posted 71 times on Facebook, 47 times on Twitter, and 6 times on Instagram. Our 2023 social media received 988 likes, 146 shares, 49,262 Twitter views, and 485 Bit.ly clicks.    
• Multiple press releases regarding the launch and expansion of new public-facing websites/data tools, including:
  • Potential Lead Exposure Mapping (PLEM) Tool, January 2022 expansion and October 2021 launch
  • Healthy Community Planning – NJ (HCP-NJ) website, June 2022 launch
  • Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment and Protection (EJMAP) tool, April 2023 launch
  • Heat Hub video, April 2024 launch
• Training of the public health workforce in the use of online NJDOH and NJDEP environmental health tools and resources.  EPHT staff annually provide a demonstration of EPHT’s online tools for graduate students at the Rutgers School of Public Health; and give a presentation at the New Jersey Environmental Health Association annual conference and the New Jersey League of Municipalities annual conference.   
• Outreach to local, regional, and county health departments to increase awareness and usage of the HCP-NJ website data and resources.  

Hazardous Sites: ATSDR’s Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE)/Hazardous Sites Project

• NJDOH staff addressed health concerns for an elementary school with elevated levels of lead and polyaromatic hydrocarbons detected in surface soil by presenting findings to the Board of Education of Ridgewood school district in April 2020.
• NJDOH staff hosted a community meeting in June 2022 to present the findings of the public health assessment for the Former Kil-Tone Company NPL site in Vineland, New Jersey. The meeting was held to solicit public comments on the health assessment document. 
• NJDOH staff attended a press conference in May 2022 with school officials and elected officials to discuss results from a health consultation which was completed for Colonia High School evaluating radioactive material that was detected in the school. 
• At the request of the USEPA, NJDOH and ATSDR regional staff attended an availability session and a public meeting in February 2024 to provide educational materials and address health concerns from parents and teachers at a school found to contain elevated levels of lead in soil due to historic pottery manufacturing operations in the area. NJDOH staff provided fact sheets to school staff and parents on reducing exposures to lead in soil. These fact sheets were provided in both English and Spanish.
• NJDOH staff developed and provided time-critical information related to exposures to indoor air levels of Trichloroethylene for two different impacted communities. Staff coordinated with the NJDEP to provide training to Licensed State Remediation Professionals to ensure that the NJDOH fact sheet on Trichloroethylene is distributed whenever there is an exceedance of the contaminant in indoor air above the health guideline value.
• NJDOH assisted the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for establishing a level of Trichloroethylene (TCE) in indoor air that would prompt immediate actions to protect pregnant women or women of childbearing age from exposures to TCE. The NJDEP will consider modifying their current remedial timeframes for TCE based on ATSDR’s threshold of concern for fetal heart effects and develop a mechanism for temporary relocation for women who may be pregnant until TCE levels can be reduced to below ATSDR’s threshold with the ultimate goal of reducing TCE levels to below NJDEP’s indoor air remediation standard.
• NJDOH staff developed and disseminated Safe Gardening fact sheets to residents living near two Superfund sites discussing how to reduce exposures to contaminated soil. These are available in English and Spanish.
• NJDOH APPLETREE staff prepared a pica behaviors and exposures to contaminated soil fact sheet for people with pica behaviors living in communities with soil contamination. This issue is particularly important in residential areas where soil may be contaminated with lead, arsenic, or other hazardous substances.
• NJDOH staff developed guidance for school districts and their environmental consultants to evaluate mercury-containing flooring systems which may emit mercury vapors in excess of NJDOH guidance levels. A fact sheet addressing parental concerns and explaining the guidance for floor evaluation was also developed and NJDOH collaborated with the regional Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) at Mount Sinai who developed fact sheets for clinicians in addition to parents.
• NJDOH staff presented newly developed resources for local health officials at the New Jersey Environmental Health Association’s (NJEHA) annual conference. Staff explained how ATSDR helps communities reduce exposures to hazardous substances and how local health officials can use ATSDR/NJDOH as a resource in their communities.
• NJDOH staff prepared 43 letters which provided technical evaluation to NJ residents on inquires related to cancer, indoor air analyses, air cleaning devices, exposures to contaminated soil and spills.
• NJDOH developed the following fact sheets to address specific issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic:
  • Disinfectant Use – Do It Right! Guidance for New Jersey Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Air Cleaning Devices and Ozone – What Schools Need to Know
  • Tips to Improve Indoor Ventilation in Indoor Spaces: Sustainable Solutions for COVID-19 and Beyond 
  • Tips to Improve Ventilation in Childcare Centers 
  • Guidance on Air Cleaning Devices for Indoor Spaces 
  • Disinfectant Use in Indoor Spaces: Guidance for New Jersey Businesses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

These fact sheets are consolidated in a central location for educational materials on reducing exposures to hazardous substances in homes, schools, childcare centers and businesses. The weblinks have also been provided to the NJ Department of Education to include in their monthly distribution to school superintendents. 

• NJDOH staff developed a fact sheet providing information for schools and parents on Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in School Buildings which is a state-wide and a national issue. Staff distributed this widely by using stakeholder contacts at the NJ Department of Education for distribution to NJ school superintendents. 
• NJDOH APPLETREE staff assisted in the development of a fact sheet that discusses preventing heat-related illness for the general population. Climate change and the increase in extreme weather events pose a threat to public health and cases of heat-related illness have increased with rising temperatures, and storm frequency and intensity have grown. This fact sheet was developed to raise awareness and provide resources to several populations including workers, health-care providers, and youth camps.
• NJDOH APPLETREE staff assisted in the development of a fact sheet which details actions to protect health on poor air quality days. This fact sheet was prepared in response to the smoke from the Canadian wildfires impacting he northeastern region in June and was disseminated to the local health departments via a LISTSERV and shared via social media. NJ Department of Environmental Protection also posted this fact sheet on their homepage for community awareness.
• NJDOH’s Office of Minority and Multicultural Health requested assistance in developing a hazard alert to health providers on the cultural uses of mercury. This fact sheet, developed by NJDOH APPLETREE staff, was disseminated to physicians raising awareness about potential exposures to mercury through cultural practices.
• The State Agriculture Development Committee requested NJDOH APPLETREE staff to attend a Farm Preservation meeting to support the preservation of a farm to support safe and sustainable farming in Millville. The committee was concerned about the potential health threats from exposures to farm products grown using irrigation well water with detectable levels of tetrachlorethylene. NJDOH APPLETREE staff attended this meeting and answered questions from the committee on the letter health consultation.
• As part of ATSDR’s Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education initiative, APPLETREE NJDOH staff in New Jersey developed a toolkit educating childcare center operators on safer cleaning, disinfecting, and pest control methods to keep children and staff safe from exposures to hazardous chemicals. In order to conduct outreach and offer training on the toolkit to the thousands of New Jersey childcare centers, staff contacted the Childcare Resource and Referral (CCR&R) Agencies serving each New Jersey county.  Since February 2020, staff have completed eight trainings of the toolkit covering 12 counties and 160 childcare center operators. This includes operators in both licensed and home-based centers.

Grants given by NJDOH

• New Jersey’s Private Well Outreach Project gives small grants to communities to test private well water.  

Grants received by NJDOH

• CDC-funded New Jersey Environmental Public Health Tracking Cooperative Agreement
• ATSDR’s Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE) Cooperative Agreement

Assets/resources         

• NJ EPHT has successfully partnered with data stewards, subject matter experts, and web staff across NJDOH and NJDEP to analyze, visualize and publish environmental health data on public-facing websites.  The goal of these activities is to improve awareness and utilization of environmental health data for public health action and decision making.                      

Disparities/inequities

• NJ EPHT provides staff to support the NJDEP Environmental Justice Advisory Council and is responsible for partially funding the development of NJDEP’s Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment and Protection (EJMAP) tool, as well as the NJDEP Overburdened Communities website.  The EJMAP tool allows users to view overburdened communities in accordance with the New Jersey Environmental Justice Law, N.J.S.A. 13:1D-157. The EJMAP tool shows major sources of air pollution; large sewage treatment plants; landfills; sludge processing, scrap metal and resource recovery facilities; and a combined environmental justice stressor index.

Final Assessment

• Six of the eleven Environmental Health targets were achieved by 2020.
  • All outdoor air and beach closing targets were met.
• The targets for the other five objectives were not met but the rates did improve.

For more information, please refer to these resources: