Environmental Progress - Spring 2003

East St. Louis Lead Threat Avoided

Soil accumulations put children at risk

Clean soil replaced lead contaminated dirt removed from residential yards.

In October 2003, the Illinois EPA removed lead contaminated soil from about 30 residential and abandoned properties in two areas of East St. Louis, after learning that local children had high levels of lead in their blood.

In 1999, the Metro-East Lead Collaborative Partnership (MELC), a cooperative effort of local, state and federal government agencies and a local hospital, conducted a study which identified high blood lead levels in local children. The blood lead levels of more than 3,500 local children were screened as part of the MELC Partnership efforts.

In response to the study, U.S. EPA Region 5 in late 1999 began investigation of 20 industrial properties and associated residential areas in East St. Louis. Many of the areas contained high levels of lead in the soil. During the study, the MELC Partnership learned that East St. Louis has numerous idle lead smelters, junkyards and abandoned industrial sites that have contributed to the elevated lead levels discovered in the East St. Louis area.

The Adept Tool site, located at 1318 N. 18th Street and the East St. Louis Awning Company, 1901 Ridge Avenue, were two of the sites identified as contributing to the high levels of lead in the soil. The Adept Tool site, a machinery manufacturer that operated prior to 1958, is an unused property with a deteriorated concrete foundation occupying the majority of the site. Prior to clean-up, illegal household waste disposal had occurred on most areas of the site. The site investigation conducted by the Illinois EPA in the spring of 2002 revealed elevated levels of lead in soil on the site and on some of the surrounding properties.

The East St. Louis Awning Company was a metal awning and ornamental metal fabricator that operated at the property before 1958. The site is currently unused and much of the property is occupied by a two-story brick building. Soil investigations conducted in May of 2002 by the IEPA revealed that approximately 20 of 40 nearby properties would require soil removal in order to minimize the risk associated with the elevated lead levels. To remove soil around existing structures, excavation was often done with use of small construction equipment and hand digging.

The excavated soil was transported to a local landfill for disposal. The IEPA’s Used Tire Program removed and processed the tires for use as tire derived fuel. Clean soil was used to fill in the excavated areas and then the areas were seeded with a mixture of grass seeds.

This project is the first statefunded residential cleanup in recent history. Both external partnerships such as the MELC and internal coordination between the IEPA’s Collinsville field office, the State Response Action Program, Used Tire Program, Office of Site Evaluation and Office of Community Relations formed the foundation of this successful project.