# NWI EMF Pilot SOP

## Purpose
Set up a small, defensible pilot to test whether EMF or related environmental conditions in Northwest Indiana deserve a larger study.

## Working rules
- Start with exposure measurement, not symptom hunting.
- Keep every hypothesis measurable.
- Prefer public, permissioned, or clearly legal observation points.
- Separate what is observed from what is inferred.
- If the data are thin, say so. No lab-coat fan fiction.

## 4-step workflow
1. Define the hypotheses.
2. Pick corridor and control sites.
3. Collect exposure data with QA/QC.
4. Analyze, map, and decide whether to expand.

## Suggested local frame
- Corridor sites: Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago
- Control sites: inland or lower-activity comparisons such as Crown Point, Munster, or Hobart
- Utility-adjacent sites: substations, transmission corridors, transformer pads, and storage interconnects
- NIPSCO electric AMI / system-upgrade work: treat meter exchanges, construction zones, and short-term utility activity as transient source-state context to log, not as a separate theory
- For utility-adjacent stops, keep `source_state`, `construction_context`, and `access_constraints` separate so active work and route limitations do not get mistaken for exposure level
- EPA also lists NIPSCO as one of the partners in the Grand Calumet River AOC cleanup/restoration effort, which makes the utility context locally relevant as well as operationally relevant
- The 2025 NWI Urban Waters work plan also lists NIPSCO as a partner in the Little Calumet River Conservation Collaborative, so corridor stops can overlap utility-adjacent work and active restoration/managed-land contexts
- The 2025 NWI Urban Waters work plan names a specific NIPSCO right-of-way at Hobart Marsh Conservation Area, which is a useful local example of why utility ROW context should stay separate from exposure signal
- The same 2025 work plan also has a Hobart Marsh and Deep River section with Duck Creek Tributary restoration, so log conservation-area restoration context separately from the NIPSCO ROW and from exposure readings
- The 2025 NWI Urban Waters work plan is hosted through Purdue University Northwest; use it as the first local-context check for Hobart Marsh / Deep River routes so managed-corridor work does not get mixed into exposure signal
- EPA’s Northwest Indiana Urban Waters Partnership work plan is updated annually; the 2025 plan notes the NWI UWFP ambassador role is hosted through Purdue University Northwest, which makes PNW a practical local coordination point for the pilot
- The 2025 NWI Urban Waters work plan describes the Hobart Marsh Conservation Area NIPSCO ROW as roughly 300 acres and 5.5 miles of NIPSCO fee-owned electric transmission ROW and gas transmission easements that buffer a larger ~2,000-acre managed/protected landscape, so keep the ROW geometry separate from the broader land extent
- Use EPA’s current Northwest Indiana Program Contacts page as the first coordination check for corridor routes; it lists Victoria Wittig, Ph.D. as the Northwest Indiana Urban Waters Ambassador at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond and was last updated January 30, 2026
- For East Chicago / Hammond / Whiting routes, check EPA’s current Grand Calumet River AOC remediation projects page before leaving so Fall 2026 construction and 2027–2028 monitoring windows stay tagged as route context, not exposure signal
- Tag Grand Calumet work by subarea too: Junction Reaches, Eastern 5 Miles, and Lake George Canal East/Middle are separate context buckets, not one cleanup blob
- EPA’s Grand Calumet River AOC page says Junction Reaches construction is scheduled to begin in Fall 2026, and Lake George Canal monitoring continues through 2027 with possible follow-on remediation in 2028, so tag those as cleanup-window context rather than exposure signal
- NIPSCO’s AMI overview page rounds the rollout to about 500,000 electric customers and 900,000 gas customers, while the electric and gas subpages still say about 490,000 and 870,000 respectively; record which page supplied the count so source-page rounding does not get mistaken for route change
- Institutional partner to consider: Purdue University Northwest for occupational safety / environmental health context
- Use EPA’s current Program Contacts page as the first coordination check for Urban Waters routes; it lists Victoria Wittig, Ph.D. as the Northwest Indiana Urban Waters Ambassador at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond.
- For Grand Calumet / East Chicago routes, split `cleanup_subarea` by actual project footprint: Junction Reaches = IHC south of Columbus Drive, West Branch between Indianapolis Boulevard and the IHC, East Branch between the IHC and Kennedy Avenue; Lake George Canal = Middle vs. East.
- For Hobart Marsh / Deep River routes, keep Duck Creek Tributary restoration separate from the Hobart Marsh Conservation Area NIPSCO ROW; the 2025 work plan says the ROW spans about 300 acres and 5.5 miles, and Duck Creek Phase 2 finished on 2024-11-11.
- The Grand Calumet / East Chicago corridor also has active remediation and monitoring windows, so cleanup-state should be logged as route context alongside utility and Urban Waters context rather than inferred later

## Deliverables
- Site list
- Sampling log
- Exposure summary tables
- Maps / plots
- Short recommendation memo
- CSV field log template
- One-page printable checklist

## Decision standard
Proceed only if the pilot shows a repeatable pattern worth scaling. Otherwise, revise the design or stop.