Management of Radon Data in the State of Ohio, U.S.A.

摘要

The objective of this research paper is to create a public awareness in understanding the radon gas problem,discuss efficient data management methods and analyses of indoor radon gas concentrations, and mitigate the indoorradon gas concentrations to below acceptable level in the state of Ohio. The Ohio Radon Information System (ORIS) is acompendium of five databases or modules, viz. the “Homes” database, the “Water” database, the “Schools” database, the“Mitigation” database, and the “Tester” database. Over the years, the radon database (made available by testinglaboratories, Ohio Department of Health (ODH), Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and universities) hasbeen expanded to 145,849 radon gas observations for homes; 1,283 radon gas observations for drinking water; 1,147radon gas observations for schools; 26,374 radon gas observations for mitigation systems; and 76,727 radon gasobservations by testers. Analysis of the homes data shows that “Licking County” is the only county having a geometricmean (GM = 8.41 pCi/l) of radon gas concentration greater than 8 pCi/l in Ohio. Zip code 43930, in “Jefferson County,”accounts for a maximum GM radon gas concentration of 39 pCi/l. Of the 216 public and 1,067 private water supplysystems, only 2 public and 65 private water supply systems have shown radon gas concentrations to exceed 1000 pCi/l.Analysis of the schools data reveals that a school in “Belmont County” to show a maximum radon gas concentration of85.5 pCi/l, with 11 rooms out of the 39 school rooms tested greater than 4 pCi/l. The performance analysis of themitigation systems identified the Sub Slab Depressurization (SSD) systems to be the best performers in mitigating theradon gas concentration to below 4 pCi/l in Ohio. Analysis of the tester’s data showed two counties: Harrison (GM =10.25 pCi/l); and Perry (GM = 8.65 pCi/l) to have a GM of radon gas concentration greater than 8 pCi/l in Ohio.