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Risk Assessment in Environmental Engineering

The document outlines Module 4 of an Environmental Engineering course, focusing on risk assessment, specifically exposure assessment and risk characterization. It includes methods for calculating chronic daily intake of chemicals and distinguishes between risk characterization for carcinogens and noncarcinogens. Two examples illustrate the estimation of benzene exposure from drinking water and swimming, along with the associated risk calculations.

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5 views7 pages

Risk Assessment in Environmental Engineering

The document outlines Module 4 of an Environmental Engineering course, focusing on risk assessment, specifically exposure assessment and risk characterization. It includes methods for calculating chronic daily intake of chemicals and distinguishes between risk characterization for carcinogens and noncarcinogens. Two examples illustrate the estimation of benzene exposure from drinking water and swimming, along with the associated risk calculations.

Uploaded by

Julia
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

CVEN/EVEN 301

Environmental Engineering

Instructor: Alan Gonzalez


October 21, 2025

Module 4 – Risk Assessment


Exposure Assessment and Risk Characterization
Overview

Exposure Assessment

• Describe and calculate the chronic daily intake of a


chemical with multiple routes of exposure

Risk Characterization

• Describe the differences between risk characterization


for carcinogens and noncarcinogens
• Calculate risk for carcinogens and the hazard index for
noncarcinogens

2
Exposure Assessment
Exposure Assessment
For more involved scenarios, consider multiple sources of exposure

3
Exposure Assessment
Example #1: Estimate the lifetime average chronic daily intake of benzene from
exposure to a city water supply that contains a benzene concentration equal to
the drinking water standard. The allowable drinking water concentration
(maximum contaminant level, MCL) is 0.005 mg/L. Assume the exposed
individual is an adult male who consumes water at the adult rate for 63 years,
that he is an avid swimmer and swims in a local pool (supplied with city water) 3
days a week for 30 minutes from the age of 30 until he is 75 years old. As an
adult, he takes a long (30 minutes) shower every day. Assume that the average
air concentration of benzene during the shower is 5 μg/m3. It is estimated that the
dermal uptake from water is 0.0020 m/hr. Direct dermal absorption during
showering is 1% of the available benzene because most of the water does not
stay in contact with skin long enough.

4
Exposure Assessment
Example #1

5
Risk Characterization
Risk characterization – Data from toxicity and exposure assessments are
evaluated to determine qualitative and quantitative conclusions

Carcinogens (probability)
Risk = (intake)(slope factor) = (CDI)(SF) *For low-dose cancer risk
Table 6-3 provides the SF for some carcinogens
Noncarcinogens (quotient)
Hazard index (HI) = (intake) / (reference dose) = (CDI) / (RfD)
Table 6-4 provides the RfD for some noncarcinogens

HI < 1: No significant risk


HI ≥ 1: Significant risk
6
Risk Characterization
Example #2: Using the results from Example #1, estimate the risk from exposure to water that
is contaminated with benzene at the MCL.

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