On Thursday evening the EPA held an ‘open house’ event in Evansville to connect with residents within the Jacobsville Superfund Site.
The goal is to get their soil tested for toxins leached from past industrial facilities.
“We'll take samples from the front yard and the backyard, roughly around five per section. And then those samples are, they're taken with a small hand auger …”
EPA region five Community Involvement Coordinator Charles Rodriguez is speaking with Evansville property owner Bernard Peter about getting his soil tested.
“We take those samples, send them to the lab, the lab analyzes the levels of lead and arsenic in them.”
The EPA has been working on this superfund site for about 10 years. It started with the Jacobsville Neighborhood of Evansville.
“We were just gonna clean this neighborhood up. And then we found out it was way bigger than we thought. Way bigger than we thought there was 9000 residential properties.”
That was Remedial Project Manager Beth Reiner. Again, the EPA is specifically testing for arsenic and lead.
“Lead we are particularly concerned about because it can affect a small child's ability to learn and can also create behavioral issues. So we want to make sure that kids are not exposed to high levels of lead.”
She said of the 9,000 properties within the superfund site, they’ve tested 6,000 so far. Overall about 60-percent reach the action threshold for remediation.
“If levels are a little elevated above our standards, then we remove the soil and and remove soil, replace it with clean, clean fill and restore to the property to condition it was before we worked on that,” said Rodriguez. Sampling and property remediation are free to residents.
He said they’ve been reaching out to residents through the mail to get them signed up for soil sampling.
This is how Bernard Peter learned about the event. He and his wife have some property on North Main Street.
“For the safety of the public, that's our biggest concern. My wife and I, for the safety of the public room wanted to be sure and address this.”
Some residents such as Thomas Stratton, actually brought a soil sample in for screening.
“Was a sample less than five feet away from the street?”
EPA public liaison Kara Bell asks about where the sample was gathered before sliding it under a large yellow gun to x-ray the sample for traces of lead.
In this case his sample is at 40 parts per million far below 400 parts per million, the EPAs action threshold. The EPA does recommend more than one test to be safe.
Stratton is a physician with Echo Community Healthcare.
“I knew this was going on — I'm also with NAACP, Evansville, and our health committee is looking to set up some lead screening, informational and action opportunities for parents, particularly with young children. And this is highly relevant.”
Soil testing and screening were one aspect of the event. Included were water testing and filtering and signups to test children for blood-lead levels through the Vanderburgh County Health Department in case they’ve been exposed to lead-based paint.
Rodriguez said anyone who couldn’t make it to the event can connect with the project online if they haven’t received a letter yet.
See the link below.
Jacobsville Superfund Site information and contact
