Lead contaminated soil abatement interventions
Lead contaminated soil abatement interventions clean, remove, replace, or cover contaminated soil. Permanent efforts remove contaminated soil, test what remains, and cover it with non-contaminated soil, or cover contaminated soil with asphalt or concrete. Interim abatement measures cover contaminated soil with non-contaminated soil, mulch, sod, or grass. Contaminated soil can be cleaned by physically encapsulating contaminants, chemically reducing contaminant mobility, or extraction1. Soil contaminants can also be reduced using phytoremediation, which uses plants to remove heavy metals and contaminants from soil either through phytoextraction, when plants take up and accumulate contaminants in plant tissues, or through phytostabilization, when plant root systems immobilize heavy metals such as lead underground, which decreases lead contaminated dust, decreases soil erosion, and reduces lead’s bioavailability for plants and humans2. Urban soils frequently contain lead dust levels greater than levels established for indoor floors3; residential soil lead levels of 200 ppm are considered hazards4. Scientists indicate there is no safe blood lead level (BLL) for individuals of any age, including fetuses5, 6. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) blood lead reference level for initiating public health actions to prevent further exposure and mitigate health effects is 3.5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL); it is estimated that over 500,000 children have BLLs at or above this level5.
What could this strategy improve?
Expected Benefits
Our evidence rating is based on the likelihood of achieving these outcomes:
Reduced lead exposure
Potential Benefits
Our evidence rating is not based on these outcomes, but these benefits may also be possible:
Reduced blood lead levels
Improved health outcomes
Improved child behavior
Improved youth behavior
Reduced health care costs
What does the research say about effectiveness?
There is some evidence that lead contaminated soil abatement reduces and prevents lead exposure2, 7, 8, 9, especially among children7. Available evidence associates both permanent and interim soil abatement efforts with reduced lead exposure10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and a strong pattern of peak lead levels in warmer weather suggests that ingesting lead contaminated soil and inhaling airborne lead from soil significantly contribute to lead exposure among children, particularly toddlers9, 10, 16, 17. Additional evidence is needed to determine the effects of various lead soil abatement strategies18.
A study of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund cleanup sites in six states shows lead contaminated soil abatement can reduce the risk of elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) among children living within two kilometers of the site19. High concentrations of lead contaminated soil have been associated with elevated BLLs among children, especially among younger children who ingest contaminated soil or dust20. Montana and Idaho-based studies associate community-wide soil remediation efforts, when combined with screening, education, and other abatement strategies, with reductions in children’s BLLs10, 11. Decreases in children’s BLLs and soil lead levels following flooding from Hurricane Katrina suggest that adding low lead material to existing soil surfaces can also decrease BLLs8, 14.
Lab experiments show that phytoremediation – using plants to clean up soil contaminants – can be effective over time, with more than one growing season needed to reduce lead levels in soil to recommended standards2. Phytoremediation can be improved with compost applications, which have been shown to increase plant growth and to reduce the bioavailability of lead in soil and plant tissues2, 21. Using multiple soil abatement interventions simultaneously such as phytoremediation, high quality compost, vermicomposting, and additional soil amendments increases abatement effectiveness and immobilization of lead and may help address the challenges of co-contaminated soil22, 23. Plants grown in lead contaminated soil should not be eaten and contaminated plant waste should be disposed of according to lead hazard guidelines to avoid creating new lead exposures2, 23. Vermicomposting may be more effective than conventional composting for removing heavy metals such as lead from contaminated soil24. An assessment of the Boston Lead-Safe Yard Project suggests that, when maintained, plant barriers and ground cover can reduce lead exposure one year after installation12. Studies in urban areas suggest using phosphate-rich amendments like fish bones can remediate lead in soil25; however, reductions from soil amendments do not appear to reduce lead levels enough to prevent lead exposure among children9.
Consuming vegetables and fruit grown in lead contaminated soil increases risk of lead exposure, especially among children who experience higher lead burdens from smaller exposures because of their size20. Lead accumulation in edible plants is highest in taproot vegetables (e.g. carrots, beets, radishes, etc.) with lower concentrations found in fruits and potatoes20. Interventions to remove lead contamination from soil before households buy and raise chickens may reduce lead exposure from backyard chicken eggs26.
Appropriate soil remediation methods vary by site. Capping contaminated soil with clean soil and covering with grass, for example, appears to cost-effectively reduce childhood lead exposure27, 28; however, areas with high lead levels may require more intensive efforts29. Soil abatement efforts may be most effective when combined with lead paint encapsulation or abatement along with groundcover plantings13, and when efforts are implemented neighborhood- or city-wide9. City-wide mapping to identify lead contaminated soil, before children’s blood test results indicate lead exposure, can support proactive remediation and prevent lead exposure3, 14. Comprehensive lead abatement efforts that address all exposure routes including air, water, dust, and soil are most effective9.
Lead abatement can improve health outcomes for children and adults by reducing developmental disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-related behaviors (ADHD), anemia, hypertension, and kidney and brain damage30, 31, 32. Newborn infants and fetuses are especially vulnerable to effects of lead exposure that disrupts brain development6, 33; a St. Louis-based study suggests prenatal screening and proactive lead hazard remediation, including soil remediation, can prevent exposure among some newborns31. Reduced lead exposure may be linked to reductions in violent crime roughly twenty years after exposure would have occurred34, 35, 36.
Cost benefit analysis finds positive net benefits and a high rate of return for lead abatement programs overall18, 37. Economic models suggest that future earnings and decreased medical costs for children who benefit from lead abatement efforts range from 2-20 times the estimated cost of abatement38. Available evidence suggests that clean soil caps about 15 centimeters thick are the most effective lead contaminated soil abatement projects with the lowest cost9. Phytoremediation is also cost-effective and cheaper than many other methods of contaminated soil abatement; however, these efforts take more time for soil to reach lead safety standards2.
How could this strategy advance health equity? This strategy is rated potential to decrease disparities: suggested by expert opinion.
Lead contaminated soil abatement interventions are a suggested strategy to reduce racial and economic disparities in exposure to lead, especially when resources for abatement are provided to communities of color with low incomes that have experienced environmental injustices and are disproportionately burdened by lead contamination8, 20, 47, 48. Studies in New Orleans, Louisiana show disparities between different census tracts in lead exposure through soil samples and blood lead levels (BLLs), with higher exposures and BLLs found in neighborhoods with more people of color and lower incomes8, 47. After Hurricane Katrina, lead contamination measured in topsoil decreased as significant amounts of topsoil washed away; however, many communities of color with low incomes continue to experience disproportionate exposure to lead contaminated soil8 and high soil lead levels remain an invisible source of racial health inequities and racial injustices47. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, children living in communities of color, with low incomes, and dealing with multiple environmental injustices experience lead poisoning almost ten times more than the national rate20. Milwaukee’s data also show lead contaminated residential soil increases lead exposure risks from backyard garden produce, especially for children from families with low incomes who may use gardens to increase their food security20.
Lead hazards are a persistent environmental injustice that disproportionately affects children of color, children from families that immigrated to the U.S., children living in urban areas, and children living in areas with lower incomes49, 50, 51, 52. Data from Santa Ana, California show higher lead exposures from lead contaminated soil in communities with more children, more immigrants, more residents with limited English proficiency, more Hispanic or Latino/a residents, more residents who rent their homes, who do not have health insurance coverage, who have lower incomes, and who have lower educational attainment levels48. Racial disparities in BLLs between Black children and white children ages one to five years old have decreased in recent decades; however, disparities persist, with Black children suffering from higher BLLs and higher lead exposures than white children, even at the highest income and highest education levels49, 53. Black children, especially younger children, also have the highest outlier BLLs; the data show potentially thousands of Black children with BLLs of 40 μg/dL or more and no children from any other racial or ethnic group with BLLs that high49.
Available data suggest that children living in households with higher education levels have lower rates of lead exposure than children living in households with less formal education, and as income levels increase, BLLs among children decrease49. Children from families with lower income levels living in areas with higher risk of lead exposure experience negative brain development and cognitive outcomes more than children from families with higher income levels living in the same higher risk areas54. Children from families with lower incomes also have higher risks of nutritional problems, especially iron deficiency, which can increase lead absorption and elevate BLLs55.
What is the relevant historical background?
By the late 19th century, lead’s toxic and harmful effects were known, yet the lead industry and many businesses profited from selling lead for use in pipes, paint, gasoline, and many consumer goods56, 57. In the U.S., surface soils were contaminated with lead from gasoline exhaust, deteriorating exterior paint, fertilizer and pesticide applications, and industry emissions, for example, from lead smelting and battery recycling9, 20. By the 1950s, millions of children had been poisoned by lead, either chronically or acutely, and public health officials had documented the irreversible effects of childhood lead poisoning from lead exposures56. Powerful leaders of the lead industry avoided responsibility for knowingly selling products containing toxic lead and claimed that lead poisoning was only a problem among individuals and families of color and those living in poverty56.
Formerly redlined neighborhoods are more likely to be communities of color with lower incomes and fewer resources, affected by polluting industries and waste dumping sites, comprised of older and deteriorating houses with lead-based paint and lead pipes and plumbing, located near lead-polluting industries, and surrounded by heavy traffic with residual effects such as soil contamination from leaded gasoline pollution49, 50, 55, 58, 59. City-wide studies have shown high levels of lead soil contamination in neighborhoods with older housing stock, high traffic roads, and lead emissions industries9.
Legislation and lead hazard removal has reduced childhood lead exposure, with population level decreases in BLLs since the 1970s60. As of 2010, 23 states have adopted comprehensive lead prevention laws55. Several local and state governments have adopted legislation that requires lead testing for children at age one or two, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, as well as Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York58. However, roughly half a million children of ages one to five still have BLLs at or above 5 μg/dL, when it is known that there is no safe blood lead level and significant disparities in lead exposure by race, ethnicity, and income remain55, 60. Government decisions about what it is worth to save communities and people suffering from lead hazard exposure are value judgments that have been influenced by explicit and implicit bias, with disastrous effects for many communities of color56. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that lead exposure worldwide accounts for over 1 million deaths annually and over 24 million years of healthy life lost52.
Equity Considerations
- What lead contaminated soil abatement interventions exist in your community? Are these interventions comprehensive, with additional funding available for households that need help with costs?
- Which neighborhoods in your community have higher exposure risks for lead contaminated soil? Who has the decision-making power to prioritize reducing disproportionate lead exposure risks in your community?
- Is your community remediating lead contaminated soil on a community-wide scale before children are exposed to lead, as recommended to prevent irreversible serious harm, or reacting to blood lead level (BLL) tests after lead exposures occur?
- Are all pathways to lead exposure considered and addressed through preventative lead poisoning efforts in your community? What partnerships or collaborations could support addressing lead hazards in contaminated soil, dust, water, and air?
Implementation Examples
As of 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lowered the recommended screening levels for lead contaminated soil at residential properties from 400 parts per million (ppm) to 200 ppm, and for any properties with multiple sources of lead exposure identified, the EPA will use a screening level of 100 ppm. The lower levels will increase EPA Superfund investigations and cleanups for residential properties4. Many examples of EPA Superfund cleanup sites are from communities located near industrial or mining sources of lead pollution, for example, in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah39. In Southeast Missouri, EPA Superfund work has cleaned up nearly 8,500 residential, public use, and child high-use properties40. The 10 regional offices of the EPA each has a designated Regional Lead Coordinator who oversees lead-poisoning prevention efforts, including lead contaminated soil abatement, within the region41.
In New Orleans, Louisiana, the city health department covered lead contaminated soil found in parks, playgrounds, and child care centers with clean soil42. In New York City, the Clean Soil Bank recovers clean soil from construction sites with deep excavations and provides clean soil to community and school gardens across the city; over the course of eight years, it has provided over 600,000 tons of clean soil to these projects42, 43. In Santa Ana, California, a coalition of parents, scientists, and environmental justice advocates conducted community-wide soil lead testing and successfully persuaded the city council to commit to comprehensively addressing lead contamination in their community42. University researchers and residents have made a city-wide map of lead contaminated soil in Chicago, Illinois and are developing plans to amend the soil throughout their community42.
Tribal lands have suffered vast environmental injustices and many hazardous contamination events, including lead contamination in many areas. The Tribal Lands Assistance Center is a resource created by collaborations between the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, the EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management, the Tribal Superfund Working Group, and the Tribal Waste and Response Steering Committee. Tribal Lands Assistance Center provides Tribal communities with information and resources for addressing contamination on and near Tribal lands and waters44.
Individuals can have their soil tested for lead contamination through many state universities, colleges, or laboratories around the country. Soil tests typically cost between $10-20 per sample45.
Norway’s national clean soil program includes remediation of contaminated soils, especially at child care centers, parks, and school playgrounds, and focused efforts to identify hazards via soil mapping46.
Implementation Resources
‡ Resources with a focus on equity.
US EPA-Lead - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Lead: Lead poisoning is preventable.
US EPA-EJScreen - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). EJScreen: Environmental justice screening and mapping tool.
US EPA-Protect your family - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (U.S. HUD). Protect your family from lead in your home. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); 2012.
US EPA-Lead hotline - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Lead hotline: The national lead information center.
US EPA-Lead hazard standards - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Hazard standards for lead in paint, dust and soil (TSCA Section 403).
US EPA-Superfund - U.S Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, March 13). Lead at Superfund sites.
US EPA-USGS soil lead - U.S Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, October 7). Lead at Superfund sites: United States Geological Survey (USGS) background soil-lead survey.
CDC-Lead CLPP - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health. Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (CLPP) program.
US DHHS ATSDR-soilSHOP - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (n.d.). soilSHOP Toolkit. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
US DHHS ATSDR-Soil health - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (n.d.). soilSHOP Toolkit: Soil, gardening, and your health. Retrieved October 22, 2024
UMN Ext-Rosen - Rosen CJ. Lead in the home garden and urban soil environment. University of Minnesota Extension (UMN Ext).
EPHDT-WI Lead - Environmental Public Health Data Tracker (EPHDT): Wisconsin Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. Childhood lead poisoning: filterable map of lead poisoning in Wisconsin.
Footnotes
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5 CDC-Lead CLPP - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health. Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (CLPP) program.
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29 Harvey 2016 - Harvey PJ, Taylor MP, Kristensen LJ, et al. Evaluation and assessment of the efficacy of an abatement strategy in a former lead smelter community, Boolaroo, Australia. Environmental Geochemistry and Health. 2016;38(4):941-954.
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39 US EPA-Superfund - U.S Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, March 13). Lead at Superfund sites.
40 US EPA-Puleo 2024 - Puleo, R. (2024, October 20). Residential yards remediated in Region 7: An overview of lead cleanup activities in southeast Missouri. U.S Environmental Protection Agency.
41 US EPA-Lead contacts - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Lead: Contacts in EPA regional offices for lead-based paint exposure prevention efforts.
42 CPI-Cabrera 2023 - Cabrera, Y. (2023, March 22). Eight ways to take action on lead contaminating your community’s soil. Center for Public Integrity.
43 NYC OER-CSB - NYC Office of Environment Remediation. (n.d.). Clean Soil Bank. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
44 TLAC - Tribal Lands Assistance Center. (n.d.). What are Contaminated Sites? Retrieved October 22, 2024.
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Related What Works for Health Strategies
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