A new study found dangerous levels of lead around South Los Angeles homes cleaned up from the 2015 Exide environmental disaster.
The study, conducted by UC Irvine’s Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, found that nearly 70% of the homes remediated around the facility still have high levels of lead in their soil.
“Working with community-based organizations near Exide, there was a desire to understand if the yards had really been cleaned up after they did the cleanup and also if there was more lead than was sort of originally considered under the cleanup plan,” Jill Johnston, the study’s co- author, told KNX News’ Karen Adams. “What we found, unfortunately, was that many homes that had received a cleanup still had elevated levels of lead in the yard, and we also found that homes that are kind of adjacent to but outside of the cleanup areas also had very high levels of lead.”
Johnston called the state's cleanup of the disaster a systemic failure.
“This arose from concerns from the community about the potential of contaminated soil blowing on cleaned areas,” she said. “But what we saw was really much more systematic than, you know, the occasional impact of wind-blown dust.”
The study’s authors are urging lawmakers to make sure the cleanup plans are enforced, and that they commit to neighborhood-scale remediation that keeps residents at the center of decision-making.
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