Staff file photo / Workers remove soil contaminated with lead from the front yard of a Southside residence off of Mitchell Avenue in 2013.A years-long soil study of lead contamination levels in Chattanooga’s residential areas is expanding to four new neighborhoods in 2017.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking landowner permission to sample yards in the Alton Park, College Hill Courts, Richmond and Mountain View neighborhoods next month to gauge whether soil in those areas contains unsafe levels of lead.
“A lot of this is precautionary,” EPA remedial project manager Cathy Amoroso said last week, following a public meeting at the South Chattanooga Recreation Center. “We don’t know if we’re going to find lead there, because we haven’t collected any samples yet. But we have reason to believe it’s possible.”
There are 400 homes in the study area that the EPA would like to sample. Those in the testing area should have received information in the mail from the federal agency explaining the situation and requesting permission to conduct sampling.
The EPA’s interest in the lead levels of Chattanooga’s residential soil originated from a 2011 case in which a Read Avenue resident showed up at an emergency room with lead poisoning.