Elizabeth Gore has been a resident of the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood for more than 45 years. Years ago when she initially learned that her neighborhood had dangerous levels of lead, she felt afraid. Today, she is weary of the lingering issue.
“I feel kind of exhausted based on how long the community has been exposed to the high levels of lead,” said Gore. “And it’s not just lead. We suffer from things like wastewater overflow from the industries in this area and the close proximity to the Harding Street coal plant. So there’re lots of toxins and pollutants we have to deal with.”
Gore added that residents of the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood, located on the city’s near Northeastside bounded by 30th Street, Massachusetts Avenue, 21st Street, Sherman Drive and the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks, first learned about their lead issue in 2005 when parishioners at Scott United Methodist Church wanted to break ground on a new building. What they found was shocking: lead in the soil.
“Blood lead levels of children in the area were higher than the average in Indianapolis and the national average,” said Rick Roudebush, an employee of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and volunteer for Improving Kids Environment and IUPUI Earth Sciences Department.
Everyone is affected by high lead levels, but the toxin is especially harmful in children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lead exposure in children can affect nearly every system in the body. Because lead poisoning often occurs with no obvious symptoms, it frequently goes unrecognized. Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death.
“If a kid is lead poisoned, it literally shaves I.Q. points off of a young developing brain. Many kids who are lead poisoned, there’s a good chance they may not make it to high school let alone graduate from high school,” said Roudebush. “The secondary factor the CDC has proven is that children who have lead poison, sometimes grow up to have violent tendencies.”
Once the lead was discovered, concerned citizens and various entities, worked to get rid of a nearby manufacturing plant and smeltering plant that emitted high lead levels. People should note that the neighborhood is also located near various industrial businesses and the I-70 highway. As recent as 1996, vehicles ran on lead fuel which may still lurk in the soil. As an older neighborhood, some homes may still have traces of lead-based paint.
During the initial cleanup, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was called into the neighborhood to assess and clean up properties. The $6 million project removed a foot of soil and replaced it with clean soil.
From 2010-2012 Roudebush said IUPUI tested the soil again. The results: high levels of lead remained.
Next month the EPA will return to the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood to do more soil testing.
“We are reassessing the neighborhood around the American Lead site. It may be properties that were never cleaned up or properties outside of the original testing area,” said Shelly Lam, on scene coordinator for the EPA. “We’ll go out to the sight itself to collect samples and go into the neighborhood to collect samples.”
Lam added that the EPA isn’t going to just find out of lead is present, but what kind of concentrations of lead is present and the source of the lead.
The drawbacks to this testing is that after samples are collected, it will take several months to find the source of the problem due to very few and back-logged laboratories that do this type of work. In addition, the EPA can’t clean up lead-based paint or lead from gasoline – this must be addressed by the Marion County Health Department. An EPA-spearheaded cleanup must be traced to an industrial source.
Roudebush said a neighborhood task force was formed to act as a mediator between residents and the EPA to keep residents informed of lead levels found and forward steps based on results.
Various groups, such as The Center for Urban Health and the Martindale Brightwood Environmental Justice Collaborative, which is chaired by Gore, have come together to host the Martindale Brightwood Community Health Fair on April 25 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 37 Place, 2605 E. 25th St.
At the fair, residents can learn more about the lead testing the EPA will do. Residents can also get health screenings such as heart rate, blood pressure and body mass index. There will also be nutrition counseling, urban gardening information and smoking cessation information. Kids can also be tested for lead at the health fair.
Residents are grateful for the EPA returning to the neighborhood and say they will remain patient until the amount and source of lead levels are found. In the meantime, Karla Johnson of the Marion County Public Health Department says there are things residents can do to protect themselves.
Johnson said residents who want to enjoy gardening in their yards should use raised garden beds. Lead could be present throughout the interior and exterior of the home, therefore, if a resident is planning to paint, they should scrape dry paint with the proper containment.
Other tips include not sanding or power washing without the proper containment; have plastic on the ground to collect paint chips; and clean up all paint chips. For details on how to properly remove paint and contain debris, residents should call (317) 221-2155.
Small children and women of child-bearing age should not be present during these types of home projects.
For more information about the Martindale Brightwood lead reassessment, call the Martindale Brightwood Environmental Justice Collaborative at (317) 923–6817; Improving Kids’ Environment at (317) 253-1312; or the Marion County Health Department at (317) 221-2150.
