The early morning sun shines on an abandoned home on Huss Avenue near the corner of East 59th Street in Slavic Village in April 2014 on the day before it was demolished to remove the hazard. Because of a shortage of safe affordable rentals in Cleveland and other Ohio cities, some families find shelter in substandard housing with lead paint hazards, jeopardizing the health of infants and young children.
Tribune News Service file photo
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is lowering the screening levels for lead-contaminated soil in residential areas, which means more of them could end up being remediated under the Superfund law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
“Every family and child, regardless of their ZIP code, deserves to live without worrying about the life-long health effects from exposure to lead pollution,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan stated in a news release Wednesday. “Today’s action ensures that EPA uses the latest, best available science to protect children living and playing near sites contaminated by lead in soil.”
This is the first lowering of screening levels in 30 years, according to the EPA.
The screening level for lead in soil is being lowered from 400 parts per million to 200 parts per million. The level will “generally” be lower — 100 parts per million — for residential properties exposed to lead from multiple sources.
The new screening levels will be of help to EPA site teams, but they are not “cleanup standards,” according to the EPA. Cleanup decisions will be “specific to each site, using site-specific factors, including risk factors and community input that can vary from site to site,” according to the EPA.
Lead can enter the environment through a variety of sources and be found in the soil, water and air, as well as in homes. It can travel through the air, settle in soil and leach into groundwater.
“While natural levels of lead in soil range between 50 and 400 parts per million, mining, smelting and refining activities have resulted in substantial increases in lead levels in the environment, especially near mining and smelting sites,” according to the U.S. EPA website.
Lead can cause severe harm to children and infants, including impaired learning and brain damage, while also causing health problems in adults, such as heart disease, cancer, higher blood pressure and lower kidney function.
