Lead Contamination in Schoolyard Soils

Abstract

Lead contamination in soils can pose a serious health threat to children. Lead has been widely linked to a number of health issues such as mental lapses, learning disability, and damage to the nervous system. Old, chipped paint is a common source of Pb in soils whereby the paint chips accumulate in soils. Young children playing in such contaminated soils are at risk of inadvertently ingesting Pb. Soils at 11 public schools in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana were scanned for Pb using portable X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry. Soils at four of the evaluated schools contained Pb levels >400 mg kg−1, the USEPA and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality screening limit for Pb levels in bare soils in areas of play. Many areas of chipping paint on buildings and paint flakes on soils were noted. Several simple steps can and should be taken to limit children's exposure to Pb‐contaminated soils in public school settings.

Heavy Metals in Archaeological Soils

“…In modern industrial contexts, sites with contamination are evaluated for risk by how often the area is frequented and whether there is adequate ground cover on the soil, which diminishes the amount of contaminated dust in the air. Sites are also evaluated for use by children, who are more at risk for heavy metal poisoning than adults due to their small body size, early stage of development, and hand-to-mouth behaviors (Scott et al 2013; Taylor et al 2014). The standard practice of reporting heavy metals levels for the EPA varies, but most often, it is in milligrams (mg) of the hazardous element per mass of soil (kg; 1 mg/kg = 1 ppm).…”

“…Field portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectroscopy has been increasingly used to test for toxic levels of heavy metals in modern mining and industrial waste sites (Brent et al 2017; Carr et al 2008; Jang 2010; Kim and Choi 2017; Kincey et al 2018; Lee et al 2016; Rouillon et al 2017; Scott et al 2016; Suh et al 2016; Urrutia-Goyes et al 2018), as well as to identify heavy metals in crop, greenhouse, and urban soils (Hu et al 2017; Scott et al 2013; Taylor et al 2014; Tian et al 2018).…”

Rapid assessment of soil and contaminant variability via portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: Copşa Mică, Romania

“…The use of PXRF for soil analysis is sanctioned both by the USEPA (2007) in method 6200 and most recently, the Soil Survey Staff (2014). Worldwide, PXRF has steadily gained acceptance in a wide number of applications from evaluating metal-laden recreation areas in Ireland (Carr et al, 2008) and Pb pollution in residential neighborhoods and schoolyards of the USA (Clark and Knudsen, 2014;Scott et al, 2013) to vegetative/plant nutrient analyses in Australia (McLaren et al, 2012). Yet in Romania and many parts of Eastern Europe, the use and application of PXRF is virtually non-existent, even though the country is rife with environmental problems (Constantinescu, 2008).…”

Moving your laboratories to the field – Advantages and limitations of the use of field portable instruments in environmental sample analysis

“…Field portable XRF spectrometers can also be used for rapid and accurate determinations of elements, such as silicon and phosphorus in plants (Reidinger et al, 2012), for analyzing dust wipe samples (Sterling et al, 2000) or rock and mineral specimens (Yuan et al, 2014). Determinations of lead in environmental samples, especially in heavily polluted areas are one of the main applications of portable XRF spectrometer (Drake et al, 2003;Schwarz et al, 2012;Scott et al, 2013).…”