In mid-March, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the organization's contractors will begin testing soil for possible lead contamination at several residential properties in Pittsburg, as well as at the city's schools, daycare centers, parks and playgrounds. The project is set to begin on March 16.
The bulk of the testing will take place at residential properties located within 500 feet of the former Pittsburg Zinc Company smelters, an area with boundaries of Fifth Street to the north, Kansas Street to the south, Locust Street to the west and Tucker Street to the east. On Saturday, city officials mailed property access consent letters to 167 property owners within the affected area. The EPA cannot take soil samples on any property until permission is granted by the owner. The EPA has received consent from USD 250 administrators and city officials to test on their properties.
The remediation project is the next step in what has been a nearly 20-year investigation into the soil condition near the former smelter sites. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment began an assessment of the grounds in 1987. It wasn't until last fall, however, that KDHE requested that the EPA get involved. Todd Campbell, EPA project manager and the on-site coordinator for the upcoming Pittsburg project, said the EPA received a letter dated Sept. 3 from KDHE requesting that the agency take over the investigation.
"We were given a referral letter from the state of Kansas asking us to do further assessment activities in Pittsburg near the former Pittsburg Zinc (Company) site," Campbell said.
Rick Bean, remedial section chief with KDHE, said much of the department's initial testing in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s took place at the smelter sites and did not expand off of the grounds. It wasn't until this decade, he said, that the investigation expanded to include surrounding residential properties. He said the most recent assessments indicated that some residential properties may be subject to lead contamination.
"We learned from other smelter sites (throughout the state) that sometimes there can be off-site contamination through air emissions or just people using that material as fill to build houses," Bean said. "These are things we learn over time. Since it is a health risk, the fact that there (could be) some lead in some residential yards, we went ahead and made the referral to the EPA."
Campbell said the project, which is funded entirely by EPA money, is non-intrusive to the property owners. The tests consist of surface samples of two to four inches of soil.
"We try to get just below the root of the sod," he said. "We really want to know what's closest to the surface and, if there are children playing there, what are the soil conditions they are playing on."
The soil samples collected will be sent to the EPA's Region 7 laboratory in Kansas City for confirmation analysis. Campbell said turnaround time for those results is usually 30 days. Once results are submitted, the property owners will be sent a data transmittal letter through the mail, which they should receive within 45 to 60 days of testing.
Until the tests are conducted and results are collected, Campbell said there is no way to predict what the EPA will find during the project.
"Without some further data," he said, "we can't gauge the threat."
Children
One of the largest concerns during the assessment is the health and well being of children 6 years old and younger — the population that is most susceptible to lead contamination, according to Janis Goedeke, health officer with the Crawford County Health Department.
"Children 6 and younger are a little more susceptible to lead poisoning for two reasons," she said. "One is their body mass. They're smaller and it doesn't take as much exposure for them to become ill. The second reason for that is simply the activities of young children. They're outside, they're not washing their hands well, they're picking things up off the ground and putting them in their mouth."
The concern for young children is why all schools, daycare centers, parks and playgrounds also will be tested. Campbell said the elementary schools are the EPA's top priority because that is where the youngest children are located, although he added that middle and high school grounds also will be assessed. Both USD 250 Interim Superintendent Robin Dexter and Board of Education President Rich Ellis said they are comfortable with the testing and will cooperate in full.
"We just want to make sure the kids are safe," Dexter said.
"Robin has kept the Board informed and is in contact with all the parties involved," Ellis said. "Obviously our students’ health and welfare is one of our top priorities. At this time it appears that none of our schools are going to be affected by this study. However, each site will be tested and we will comply with any recommendations that are made at that time."
A public meeting is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Schlanger Park Community Center for anyone concerned about their children's health or those simply seeking additional information on the matter. Representatives from the city of Pittsburg, the county health department, the EPA, and KDHE will be present to answer any questions citizens may have.
Free blood testing for children 6 and younger also will be available during the meeting. Goedeke said health officials will have equipment needed to screen "well over" 100 hundred children.
For those who cannot attend Thursday's meeting, Goedeke said the CCHD offers screenings every day.
"If the parents have concern about their children, they need to call the health department and we'll answer those health questions," she said. "If Thursday night does not work out for some people, we're certainly going to have our doors open at other times."
If recent test results are any indication, Pittsburg appears to be in the norm when it comes to young children with high levels of lead contamination. Of the 400 to 500 children screened in 2008 at the CCHD, Goedeke said only four to five had high levels of lead in their blood. That one percent of children locally matches the national average.
Another indication that Pittsburg may not have a significant lead problem came last fall when health officials tested children following the mercury spill at Schlanger Park. Goedeke said 86 children had their blood tested for mercury and lead, and only one showed a high lead level.
Those children with elevated lead levels in their blood, however, weren't necessarily exposed to lead in their yard, at school or at local parks. City officials said many of the homes in Pittsburg were built prior to 1978, the year lead-based paint was banned for residential use by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Those children also could have been exposed to lead through the paint on certain toys.
City urges calm
Pittsburg city officials have acted promptly in this situation both to cooperate with the EPA and KDHE, but also to help calm any fears local citizens may have.
Just days after being notified by the EPA that the agency has been referred to test soil in the city, city officials traveled to EPA Region 7 headquarters in Kansas City to discuss the specifics of the situation and what steps will be taken once testing begins.
Interim City Manager John VanGorden is urging citizens to not panic and to come forward with any questions they may have.
"We want to be totally open during this process," he said. "The more open we can be, the more people will understand what is going on."
John Bailey, Pittsburg's director of public utilities, said while lead may be found in some of the soil samples throughout the city, that does not necessarily mean anyone is at risk of health problems.
"Lead is found everywhere," he said. "What we're really concerned about is the level of lead the circumstances surrounding it. I'm sure that we'll find some elevated levels of lead. The question is whether it's going to be severe enough to require some type of remediation."
Remediation can include a variety of measures, Bailey said, including fencing in the contaminated area, paving over it or conducting a full removal of the bad soil.
"We don't know, at this time, what exactly will happen to the sites where elevated levels are found," Bailey said. "We do know that some type of activity will begin to protect children from being exposed to these levels of lead at these sites."
City officials also encourage property owners who receive the access consent letters to cooperate with the upcoming assessment.
"Before we can go on anybody's property and look at it, we do have to have that consent access form signed and returned," Bailey said. "If I had young children, I'd want to know that my yard is OK. And if it wasn't OK, I'd want to know that is was OK when they finished with it."
Bailey described next month's testing project as "the first level of effort" to ensure that local children are safe wherever they play.
THURSDAY Q&A
Officials will be available to answer questions Thursday 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. at Schlanger Park Community Center, 725 E. Sixth.
CONTACT INFO
• John Bailey, Pittsburg's director of public utilities: 231-4170
• Janis Goedeke, health officer, Crawford County Health Department: 231-5411
