The purpose of this guidance document is to provide the site team--risk assessor, remedial project manager (RPM), and community involvement coordinator--with information to improve community involvement in the Superfund risk assessment process. Specifically, this document:

• Provides suggestions for how Superfund staff and community members can work together during the early stages of Superfund cleanup;
• Identifies where, within the framework of the human health risk assessment methodology, community input can augment and improve EPA's estimates of exposure and risk;
• Recommends questions the site team should ask the community; and
• Illustrates why community involvement is valuable during the human health risk assessment at Superfund sites.

This document establishes no formal requirements for community involvement (these are covered in the National Contingency Plan [NCP] and are highlighted in the Superfund Community Involvement Handbook and Toolkit (EPA, 1998)). This document identifies techniques that can lead to risk assessments that the community will accept and understand. Additional resources on community involvement, risk assessment, risk communication, and the Superfund process are cited at the end of this document. In addition, the site team should talk with its counterparts at the state and local levels and to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to learn about their risk assessment and community involvement requirements.

• Supplement to RAGS Part A: Community Involvement in Superfund Risk Assessments (1999) (PDF)(24 pp, 160 K, 1999)