Investigating the Impacts of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells on Indoor Air Quality and Health Symptoms in Ontario, Canada: A Pilot Study

IF 2.7 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING TECHNOLOGY

Indoor air Pub Date : 2026-09-03 DOI:10.1155/ina/8041546

Jannie W. Leung, Gianni Micucci, Jiping Zhu, Jianjun Niu, Mary Kang, Élyse Caron-Beaudoin

{"title":"Investigating the Impacts of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells on Indoor Air Quality and Health Symptoms in Ontario, Canada: A Pilot Study","authors":"Jannie W. Leung, Gianni Micucci, Jiping Zhu, Jianjun Niu, Mary Kang, Élyse Caron-Beaudoin","doi":"10.1155/ina/8041546","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Background</h3>\n \n <p>Abandoned oil and gas wells can leak pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air and water. Little is known about the impacts of abandoned wells on human health. This study examined relationships between exposure to abandoned wells, indoor VOCs, and acute health effects in southwestern Ontario, Canada as part of the MAPSH (monitoring Methane, Air Pollutants, Soil quality, and human Health near abandoned oil and gas wells) project.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Methods</h3>\n \n <p>Passive indoor air sampling was conducted in October 2024 (17 households) and February–March 2025 (15 households). Samples were analyzed for 13 VOCs detected from abandoned wells in previous research. Participants reported acute health symptoms experienced in the previous 6 months and during air sampling. Well exposure was estimated using inverse distance squared weighted (ID<sup>2</sup>W) for wells within 3 km of residences. Indoor VOC concentrations were compared with Canadian air quality guidelines and trends. Correlation between well exposure and indoor VOC concentrations was assessed using Spearman′s rank correlation. Associations between exposure to abandoned and actively producing wells, indoor VOCs, and symptoms were assessed using Fisher′s exact test.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Results</h3>\n \n <p>Nine VOCs had significant moderate to high correlation (<i>ρ</i> ≥ 0.5) with ID<sup>2</sup>W estimates for abandoned wells, which remained consistent across multiple sensitivity analyses. Of these nine VOCs, four were detected among all participants: heptane, <i>m</i>,<i>p</i>-xylene, <i>o</i>-xylene, and toluene. No consistent correlations were observed with actively producing wells. Associations between symptoms and exposure to abandoned wells and indoor VOCs were inconclusive, as the small sample limited the ability to detect an effect.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Conclusion</h3>\n \n <p>This is the first study to quantify human exposure to VOCs with respect to abandoned wells estimated using ID<sup>2</sup>W. Although this small-scale pilot had several limitations, we identified nine VOCs of concern that merit further characterization and explored methods that could be scaled up and adapted to other contexts.</p>\n </section>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":13529,"journal":{"name":"Indoor air","volume":"2026 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1155/ina/8041546","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Indoor air","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/ina/8041546","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Abandoned oil and gas wells can leak pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air and water. Little is known about the impacts of abandoned wells on human health. This study examined relationships between exposure to abandoned wells, indoor VOCs, and acute health effects in southwestern Ontario, Canada as part of the MAPSH (monitoring Methane, Air Pollutants, Soil quality, and human Health near abandoned oil and gas wells) project.

Methods

Passive indoor air sampling was conducted in October 2024 (17 households) and February–March 2025 (15 households). Samples were analyzed for 13 VOCs detected from abandoned wells in previous research. Participants reported acute health symptoms experienced in the previous 6 months and during air sampling. Well exposure was estimated using inverse distance squared weighted (ID²W) for wells within 3 km of residences. Indoor VOC concentrations were compared with Canadian air quality guidelines and trends. Correlation between well exposure and indoor VOC concentrations was assessed using Spearman′s rank correlation. Associations between exposure to abandoned and actively producing wells, indoor VOCs, and symptoms were assessed using Fisher′s exact test.

Results

Nine VOCs had significant moderate to high correlation (ρ ≥ 0.5) with ID²W estimates for abandoned wells, which remained consistent across multiple sensitivity analyses. Of these nine VOCs, four were detected among all participants: heptane, m,p-xylene, o-xylene, and toluene. No consistent correlations were observed with actively producing wells. Associations between symptoms and exposure to abandoned wells and indoor VOCs were inconclusive, as the small sample limited the ability to detect an effect.

Conclusion

This is the first study to quantify human exposure to VOCs with respect to abandoned wells estimated using ID²W. Although this small-scale pilot had several limitations, we identified nine VOCs of concern that merit further characterization and explored methods that could be scaled up and adapted to other contexts.

查看原文本刊更多论文

调查废弃油气井对加拿大安大略省室内空气质量和健康症状的影响：一项试点研究

废弃的油气井会将挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）等污染物泄漏到空气和水中。人们对废弃水井对人类健康的影响知之甚少。作为MAPSH（监测废弃油气井附近的甲烷、空气污染物、土壤质量和人类健康）项目的一部分，本研究调查了加拿大安大略省西南部废弃井、室内挥发性有机化合物与急性健康影响之间的关系。方法于2024年10月（17户）和2025年2 - 3月（15户）进行被动室内空气采样。在之前的研究中，我们对废弃井中检测到的13种挥发性有机化合物进行了分析。参与者报告了在过去6个月和空气取样期间出现的急性健康症状。使用距离平方反加权（ID2W）来估计距离住宅3公里内的井的暴露情况。室内挥发性有机化合物浓度比较了加拿大空气质量准则和趋势。使用Spearman秩相关评估井暴露与室内VOC浓度之间的相关性。使用Fisher精确测试评估了暴露于废弃井和活跃生产井、室内voc和症状之间的关系。结果9种VOCs与废弃井的ID2W估算值具有显著的中至高相关性（ρ≥0.5），在多重敏感性分析中保持一致。在这九种挥发性有机化合物中，在所有参与者中检测到四种：庚烷、m、对二甲苯、邻二甲苯和甲苯。与正在生产的井没有观察到一致的相关性。症状与暴露于废弃水井和室内挥发性有机化合物之间的关系尚无定论，因为样本量小限制了检测影响的能力。这是第一个量化使用ID2W估算的废弃井中人体voc暴露量的研究。尽管这个小规模的试点项目存在一些局限性，但我们确定了9种值得关注的挥发性有机化合物，值得进一步表征，并探索了可以扩大规模并适应其他环境的方法。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Indoor air 环境科学-工程：环境

CiteScore

10.80

自引率

10.30%

发文量

175

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： The quality of the environment within buildings is a topic of major importance for public health. Indoor Air provides a location for reporting original research results in the broad area defined by the indoor environment of non-industrial buildings. An international journal with multidisciplinary content, Indoor Air publishes papers reflecting the broad categories of interest in this field: health effects; thermal comfort; monitoring and modelling; source characterization; ventilation and other environmental control techniques. The research results present the basic information to allow designers, building owners, and operators to provide a healthy and comfortable environment for building occupants, as well as giving medical practitioners information on how to deal with illnesses related to the indoor environment.