Smog

1
Smog

• Presentation 9

2
Introduction

• Los Angeles Smog (photochemical smog) is the
  mixture of ozone, hydrocarbons and partially
  oxidized hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and
  other trace gases that results from the action of
  sunlight on automobile exhaust
• It is characterized by high temperatures and
  sunny conditions.
•  
• London Smog (particulate, or sulfurous smog) is a
  mixture of sulfur dioxide and sulfate and sulfite
  aerosols resulting primarily from the combustion
  of high sulfur coal followed by conversion of SO2
  to H2SO4
• It is characterized by high humidity and low
  temperatures.

3
Introduction

• Whereas the effects of sulfurous smog have been
  known for over 600 years, photochemical smog has
  only recently appeared in the urban environment
• The characteristic symptoms of a brownish
  coloration of the atmosphere, reduced visibility,
  plant damage, eye irritation, and respiratory
  distress first became prominent during the middle
  1940's in Los Angeles, California
• But it was not until the early 1950's that
  research succeeded in identifying the phenomenon
  as arising from photochemical reactions in the
  lower atmosphere
• The prime ingredients for these reactions were
  found to be hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides
  exhausted by automobiles, and some stationary
  sources
• Local features of heavy automobile traffic,
  frequent and intense sunlight, geography, and
  meteorology reinforce to plague the Los Angeles
  area with some of the most concentrated and
  chronic photochemical smog
• More recently the symptoms have appeared in many
  other metropolitan regions in both the Northern
  and Southern Hemispheres

4
Introduction

• Photochemical smog has spread much more rapidly
  in urban regions than the growth of the
  population would suggest. This has occurred for
  two reasons
• Emissions of the primary pollutants have
  increased more rapidly than the population owing
  to the greater individual use of motor vehicles
  and electrical power.
• The downwind area covered by pollution increases
  more rapidly than the emission rate of an area
  source
• Although many years research efforts have been
  directed toward elucidation of the chemical
  process of photochemical smog, the phenomenon is
  understood only in broad terms and in a few
  details

5
Introduction

• The overall process is summarized simply in the
  Fig. below
• The atmosphere initially contains dilute
  concentrations of gaseous organic molecules
  (predominantly hydrocarbons) and nitrogen oxides,
  which consist of both nitric oxide (NO) and
  nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and are known collectively
  as NOx
• The energy of solar radiation triggers an initial
  reaction in NO, releasing products which can
  combine with the organic molecules
• A series of complex reactions follow between NOX,
  organic compounds, and ambient oxygen
• The totality of gaseous and particulate primary
  and secondary pollutants is known as
  photochemical smog

6
Photochemical Smog

• Species Involved
•  
• "Limit" here refers to the Ambient Air Quality
  Standards established by the US-EPA.

7
Ozone (O3)

• Secondary Pollutant
• Effects
• Respiration - premature aging of lungs.
• Phytotoxin, i.e. Vegetation damage
• Materials damage rubber
• Greenhouse effect (9.6 ?m)
• Limit 120 ppb for 1 hr. (Ambient Air Quality
  Standard)
• 80 ppb for 8 hr
• Ozone is an indicator of smog.

8
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)

• Primary Pollutant
• Effects
• Lungs (acute chemical pneumonia)
• Phytotoxin
• Catalyst for ozone formation
• Atmospheric acidity
• Limit 100?g m-3 (50 ppb) annual mean

9
Carbon Monoxide (CO)

• Primary Pollutant
• Effects
• Respiration (acute)
• Cardiovascular system (chronic)
• Limits
• 9.0 ppm for 8 hr
• 35 ppm for 1 hr
• 50 ppm for 8 hr is the "level of significant
  harm"

10
Carbon Monoxide (CO)

• Affinity for hemoglobin 200 times that of O2.
• Concentrations above 750 ppm are fatal.
• Concentrations gt 100 ppm cause dizziness,
  headache, loss of visual mental acuity.
• Cigarette smoke contains ca. 400 ppm CO (also
  HCN, H2CO, Ni(CO)4, NO2).

11
Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (PAN)

• Secondary Pollutant
• Effects
• Eye irritation
• Respiratory tract (carcinogen?)
• Phytotoxin
• Limits None (too hard to measure)
• Compound "X" in LA smog
• NOx reservoir.

12
Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN)

• An organic compound consisting of oxygen, and
  nitrogen as well as a short hydrocarbon chain
• It is a principle secondary pollutant in
  photochemical smog
• PAN is both toxic and irritating
• At very low concentrations of only a few parts
  per billion it causes eye irritation
• Plants are very sensitive a fraction of 1ppm
  causes extensive damage to vegetation
• The formula for one such example of PAN is
  CH3-COO-O-NO2, and consists of a hydrocarbon,
  nitrogen dioxide, (and an ester and ether group).
  
• The formula could be written as C2HO4N

13
Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)

• Primary Pollutant
• Effects
• Carcinogenic (one of the few known carcinogens in
  air)
• Limits None

14
Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)

• A group of chemicals that are formed during the
  incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, wood,
  garbage, or other organic substances, such as
  tobacco and charbroiled meat.
• There are more than 100 different PAHs.
• Generally occur as complex mixtures (for example,
  as part of combustion products such as soot), not
  as single compounds.
• Usually occur naturally, but they can be
  manufactured as individual compounds for research
  purposes however, not as the mixtures found in
  combustion products
• As pure chemicals, PAHs generally exist as
  colorless, white, or pale yellow-green solids
  with a faint, pleasant odor
• A few PAHs are used in medicines and to make
  dyes, plastics, and pesticides. Others are
  contained in asphalt used in road construction
• They can also be found in substances such as
  crude oil, coal, coal tar pitch, and roofing tar
• They can occur in the air, either attached to
  dust particles or as solids in soil or sediment
• PAHs are known carcinogens

15
Ethylene

• As they approach maturity, many fruits (e.g.,
  apples, oranges, avocados) release ethylene.
• Ethylene then promotes the ripening of the fruit.
  
• Commercial fruit growers can buy equipment to
  generate ethylene so that their harvest ripens
  quickly and uniformly
• Primary Pollutant
• Effects
• Contributes to Ozone formation
• Limits None
• There are other biogenic hydrocarbons isoprene,
  pinenes released by trees
• Some plants when stressed release more ethylene

16
Formaldehyde (H2CO)

• Colorless, flammable gas at room temperature
• Has a pungent, distinct odor and may cause a
  burning sensation to the eyes, nose, and lungs at
  high concentrations
• Also known as methanal, methylene oxide,
  oxymethylene, methylaldehyde, and oxomethane
• Highly reactive
• Breaks down into methanol (wood alcohol) and
  carbon monoxide at very high temperatures

17
Formaldehyde (H2CO)

• Naturally produced in very small amounts in our
  bodies as a part of our normal, everyday
  metabolism and causes us no harm
• Also be found in
• the air that we breathe at home and at work
• Food
• Products that we put on our skin
• Photochemical Smog
• Exhaust from cars without catalytic converters or
  those using oxygenated gasoline also contain
  formaldehyde

18
Formaldehyde (H2CO)

• "Oxygenated gasoline" is a mixture of
  conventional gasoline and one or more combustible
  liquids which contain oxygen ("oxygenates")
• At present, the most common oxygenates are
  ethanol and MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether)
• The government requires gasoline to be oxygenated
  during the winter in areas that have a carbon
  monoxide pollution problem (cold weather and
  atmospheric inversions worsen carbon monoxide
  pollution)
• Oxygenated gasoline helps engines run leaner,
  which helps engines, particularly older engines,
  produce less carbon monoxide
• http//www.chevron.com/prodserv/fuels/gas_qanda/ox
  ygen.shtml

19
Formaldehyde (H2CO)

• Produced by cigarettes and other tobacco
  products, gas cookers, and open fireplaces 
• It is also used as a preservative in some foods
• Italian cheeses, dried foods, and fish
• Household Products
• Antiseptics, medicines, cosmetics, dish-washing
  liquids, fabric softeners, shoe-care agents,
  carpet cleaners, glues and adhesives, lacquers,
  paper, plastics, and some types of wood products

20
Formaldehyde (H2CO)

• Some people are exposed to higher levels of
  formaldehyde if they live in a new mobile home
• Formaldehyde is given off as a gas from the
  manufactured wood products used in these homes
• Formaldehyde is used in many industries. 
• Production of fertilizer, paper, plywood
• It is present in the air in iron foundries 
• Production of cosmetics and sugar, in
  well-drilling fluids, in agriculture as a
  preservative for grains and seeds, in the rubber
  industry in the production of latex, in leather
  tanning, in wood preservation, and in
  photographic film production
• Formaldehyde is combined with methanol and
  buffers to make embalming fluid
• Formaldehyde is also used in many hospitals and
  laboratories to preserve tissue specimens
•  

21
Formaldehyde (H2CO)

• Primary and secondary pollutant
• Effects
• Ozone formation
• Eye irritant
• Mutagen, suspected carcinogen
• Limits None
• Indoor air pollutant too

22
London-Type Smog

• Sulfur Dioxide, SO2
• Primary Pollutant
• Effects
• Produces H2SO4 found on particles and in
  precipitation
• Acid Deposition
• Cloud Condensation Nuclei (climate)
• Materials degradation
• Respiratory tract
• Phytotoxin

23
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

• Limits
• 140 ppb for 24 hr
• 500 ppb for 3 hr
• 30 ppb annual mean
• No catalytic photochemistry

24
Other Pollutants

• Halogenated Hydrocarbons
• Organic compounds containing one or more halogens
  substituted for hydrogen
• fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine
  (I), astatine (At)
• The resulting substituted compound is generally
  less flammable but more toxic
• Example Dioxin
• Effects
• Teratogen
• LD50 in guinea pigs is 0.5 to 1.0 ?g/kg
• Limits None

25
Dioxin

• A general term that describes a group of hundreds
  of chemicals that are highly persistent in the
  environment
• The most toxic compound is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibe
  nzo-p-dioxin or TCDD.
• The toxicity of other dioxins and chemicals like
  PCBs that act like dioxin are measured in
  relation to TCDD
• Formed as an unintentional by-product of many
  industrial processes involving chlorine such as
  waste incineration, chemical and pesticide
  manufacturing and pulp and paper bleaching
• Dioxin was the primary toxic component of Agent
  Orange, was found at Love Canal in Niagara Falls,
  NY and was the basis for evacuations at Times
  Beach, MO and Seveso, Italy
• Dioxin is formed by burning chlorine-based
  chemical compounds with hydrocarbons
• The major source of dioxin in the environment
  comes from waste-burning incinerators of various
  sorts and also from backyard burn-barrels
• Dioxin pollution is also affiliated with paper
  mills which use chlorine bleaching in their
  process and with the production of Polyvinyl
  Chloride (PVC) plastics and with the production
  of certain chlorinated chemicals (like many
  pesticides)

26
Love Canal Neighborhood

• If you get there before I doTell 'em I'm a
  comin' tooTo see the things so wondrous trueAt
  Love's new Model City
• From a turn-of-the-century advertising jingle
  promoting the development of Love Canal
• Give me Liberty. I've Already Got Death
• From a sign displayed by a Love Canal resident,
  1978

27
Love Canal, NY

• Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls,
  New York
• It officially covers 36 square blocks in the
  southeastern corner of the city

28
Love Canal Neighborhood

• Quite simply, Love Canal is one of the most
  appalling environmental tragedies in American
  history. But that's not the most disturbing fact.
  What is worse is that it cannot be regarded as an
  isolated event. It could happen again--anywhere
  in this country--unless we move expeditiously to
  prevent it. It is a cruel irony that Love Canal
  was originally meant to be a dream community.
  That vision belonged to the man for whom the
  three-block tract of land on the eastern edge of
  Niagara Falls, New York, was named--William T.
  Love. Love felt that by digging a short canal
  between the upper and lower Niagara Rivers, power
  could be generated cheaply to fuel the industry
  and homes of his would-be model city. But despite
  considerable backing, Love's project was unable
  to endure the one-two punch of fluctuations in
  the economy and Louis Tesla's discovery of how to
  economically transmit electricity over great
  distances by means of an alternating current.

29
Love Canal Neighborhood

• By 1910, the dream was shattered. All that was
  left to commemorate Love's hope was a partial
  ditch where construction of the canal had begun.
  In the 1920s the seeds of a genuine nightmare
  were planted. The canal was turned into a
  municipal and industrial chemical dumpsite.
  Landfills can of course be an environmentally
  acceptable method of hazardous waste disposal,
  assuming they are properly sited, managed, and
  regulated. Love Canal will always remain a
  perfect historical example of how not to run such
  an operation. In 1953, the Hooker Chemical
  Company, then the owners and operators of the
  property, covered the canal with earth and sold
  it to the city for one dollar. It was a bad buy.

30
Love Canal Neighborhood

• In the late '50s, about 100 homes and a school
  were built at the site. Perhaps it wasn't William
  T. Love's model city, but it was a solid,
  working-class community. For a while.
• On the first day of August, 1978, the lead
  paragraph of a front-page story in the New York
  Times read
• NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y.--Twenty five years after the
  Hooker Chemical Company stopped using the Love
  Canal here as an industrial dump, 82 different
  compounds, 11 of them suspected carcinogens, have
  been percolating upward through the soil, their
  drum containers rotting and leaching their
  contents into the backyards and basements of 100
  homes and a public school built on the banks of
  the canal.

31
Love Canal Neighborhood

• In an article prepared for the February, 1978 EPA
  Journal, I wrote, regarding chemical dumpsites in
  general, that "even though some of these
  landfills have been closed down, they may stand
  like ticking time bombs." Just months later, Love
  Canal exploded.
• The explosion was triggered by a record amount of
  rainfall. Shortly thereafter, the leaching began.
  
• I visited the canal area at that time. Corroding
  waste-disposal drums could be seen breaking up
  through the grounds of backyards. Trees and
  gardens were turning black and dying. One entire
  swimming pool had been had been popped up from
  its foundation, afloat now on a small sea of
  chemicals. Puddles of noxious substances were
  pointed out to me by the residents. Some of these
  puddles were in their yards, some were in their
  basements, others yet were on the school grounds.
  Everywhere the air had a faint, choking smell.
  Children returned from play with burns on their
  hands and faces.

32
Love Canal Neighborhood

• And then there were the birth defects. The New
  York State Health Department is continuing an
  investigation into a disturbingly high rate of
  miscarriages, along with five birth-defect cases
  detected thus far in the area.
• I recall talking with the father of one the
  children with birth defects. "I heard someone
  from the press saying that there were only five
  cases of birth defects here," he told me. "When
  you go back to your people at EPA, please don't
  use the phrase 'only five cases.' People must
  realize that this is a tiny community. Five birth
  defect cases here is terrifying."
• A large percentage of people in Love Canal are
  also being closely observed because of detected
  high white-blood-cell counts, a possible
  precursor of leukemia.

33
Love Canal Neighborhood

• When the citizens of Love Canal were finally
  evacuated from their homes and their
  neighborhood, pregnant women and infants were
  deliberately among the first to be taken out.
• "We knew they put chemicals into the canal and
  filled it over," said one woman, a long-time
  resident of the Canal area., "but we had no idea
  the chemicals would invade our homes. We're
  worried sick about the grandchildren and their
  children."
• Two of this woman's four grandchildren have birth
  defects. The children were born and raised in the
  Love Canal community. A granddaughter was born
  deaf with a cleft palate, an extra row of teeth,
  and slight retardation. A grandson was born with
  an eye defect.

34
Love Canal Neighborhood

• Of the chemicals which comprise the brew seeping
  through the ground and into homes at Love Canal,
  one of the most prevalent is benzene -- a known
  human carcinogen, and one detected in high
  concentrations. But the residents characterize
  things more simply.
• "I've got this slop everywhere," said another man
  who lives at Love Canal. His daughter also
  suffers from a congenital defect.
• On August 7, New York Governor Hugh Carey
  announced to the residents of the Canal that the
  State Government would purchase the homes
  affected by chemicals.
• On that same day, President Carter approved
  emergency financial aid for the Love Canal area
  (the first emergency funds ever to be approved
  for something other than a "natural" disaster),
  and the U.S. Senate approved a "sense of
  Congress" amendment saying that Federal aid
  should be forthcoming to relieve the serious
  environmental disaster which had occurred.
• By the month's end, 98 families had already been
  evacuated. Another46 had found temporary housing.
  Soon after, all families would be gone from the
  most contaminated areas -- a total of 221
  families have moved or agreed to be moved.

35
Love Canal Neighborhood

• State figures show more than 200 purchase offers
  for homes have been made, totaling nearly 7
  million.
• A plan is being set in motion now to implement
  technical procedures designed to meet the
  seemingly impossible job of detoxifying the Canal
  area. The plan calls for a trench system to drain
  chemicals from the Canal. It is a difficult
  procedure, and we are keeping our fingers crossed
  that it will yield some degree of success.
• I have been very pleased with the high degree of
  cooperation in this case among local, State, and
  Federal governments, and with the swiftness by
  which the Congress and the President have acted
  to make funds available.
• But this is not really where the story ends.
• Quite the contrary.
• We suspect that there are hundreds of such
  chemical dumpsites across this Nation.

36
Love Canal Neighborhood

• Unlike Love Canal, few are situated so close to
  human settlements. But without a doubt, many of
  these old dumpsites are time bombs with burning
  fuses -- their contents slowly leaching out. And
  the next victim cold be a water supply, or a
  sensitive wetland.
• The presence of various types of toxic substances
  in our environment has become increasingly
  widespread -- a fact that President Carter has
  called "one of the grimmest discoveries of the
  modern era."
• Chemical sales in the United States now exceed a
  mind-boggling 112 billion per year, with as many
  as 70,000 chemical substances in commerce.
• Love Canal can now be added to a growing list of
  environmental disasters involving toxics, ranging
  from industrial workers stricken by nervous
  disorders and cancers to the discovery of toxic
  materials in the milk of nursing mothers.
• Through the national environmental program it
  administers, the Environmental Protection Agency
  is attempting to draw a chain of Congressional
  acts around the toxics problem.
• The Clean Air and Water Acts, the Safe Drinking
  Water Act, the Pesticide Act, the Resource
  Conservation and Recovery Act, the Toxic
  Substances Control Act -- each is an essential
  link.

37
Love Canal Neighborhood

• Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act,
  EPA is making grants available to States to help
  them establish programs to assure the safe
  handling and disposal of hazardous wastes. As
  guidance for such programs, we are working to
  make sure that State inventories of industrial
  waste disposal sites include full assessments of
  any potential dangers created by these sites.
• Also, EPA recently proposed a system to ensure
  that the more than 35 million tons of hazardous
  wastes produced in the U.S. each year, including
  most chemical wastes, are disposed of safely.
  Hazardous wastes will be controlled from point of
  generation to their ultimate disposal, and
  dangerous pratices now resulting in serious
  threats to health and environment will not be
  allowed.
• Although we are taking these aggressive strides
  to make sure that hazardous waste is safely
  managed, there remains the question of liability
  regarding accidents occurring from wastes
  disposed of previously. This is a missing link.
  But no doubt this question will be addressed
  effectively in the future.

38
Love Canal Neighborhood

• Regarding the missing link of liability, if
  health-related dangers are detected, what are we
  as s people willing to spend to correct the
  situation? How much risk are we willing to
  accept? Who's going to pick up the tab?
• One of the chief problems we are up against is
  that ownership of these sites frequently shifts
  over the years, making liability difficult to
  determine in cases of an accident. And no secure
  mechanisms are in effect for determining such
  liability.
• It is within our power to exercise intelligent
  and effective controls designed to significantly
  cut such environmental risks. A tragedy,
  unfortunately, has now called upon us to decide
  on the overall level of commitment we desire for
  defusing future Love Canals. And it is not
  forgotten that no one has paid more dearly
  already than the residents of Love Canal.

39
Love Canal Neighborhood

• "We had seen burst drums in the past. Usually
  they contained various dry chemicals of bright
  colors such as lemony yellow, white, or electric
  blue. There were occasions where we kids would
  play cowboys and Indians and mix the powder with
  the thick clay into a paste then paint ourselves
  up with war paint. We washed up in the Canal
  later." Summer, 1947
• "I was one of the kids ... that played during the
  day and hung out every night either at the school
  or in the fields. I still remember the colored
  puddles and dirt we rode our bicycles and
  motorcycles on. We dug and played in it just like
  you'd expect kids to do. I still remember the
  smell on my clothes." 1967 - 1978
• "In the late 1970s the barrels resurfaced. A
  black oily type substance began forming in
  puddles in this field, that we as children played
  on baseball, kickball etc. We even used surfaced
  drum tops as base markers. We had no clue."
  1979

40
EPA Success StoriesLove Canal

• More than 900 families were forced to leave their
  homes so that the site could be cleaned up. The
  problems at the site were publicized nationally
  and considered a major factor in the passage of
  the Superfund law in 1980. The site was
  officially placed on EPA's list of hazardous
  waste sites needing cleanup in 1983. EPA worked
  with the state to cap the land to prevent
  rainwater from reaching the waste, build a system
  to clean water draining from the site, clean out
  debris from the sewers and surrounding creeks,
  and remove polluted soil from nearby schools and
  residential properties. As a result of the
  cleanup, the site is now safe and is being
  returned to productive use. More than 200 new
  homes have been sold, creating an environmentally
  safe neighborhood on land once contaminated.
• Taken from http//www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/
  recycle/success/briefs/ny_brief.htmny_2

41
Love Canal neighborhood taken off Superfund list

• October 1, 2004
• Taken from the Indianapolis Star
•  
• Niagara Falls, N.Y. -- The site of a former
  chemical dump that led to an environmental
  disaster more than two decades ago was formally
  removed from the federal Superfund list Thursday
• The Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls had
  been built on and around the former dump, and by
  the 1960s and '70s, contaminated groundwater was
  leaching into back yards and school grounds.
• President Jimmy Carter declared two federal
  environmental emergencies in 1978 and 1980,
  leading to the evacuation of 950 families.
  Passage of the Superfund law soon followed.
• Some homes have been revitalized and reinhabited
  others were bulldozed and the land deemed safe
  only for industry.

42
Superfund Sites

• Omaha, 2005 asking for 20 million slated about 7
  million

43
NPL Site Narrative for Omaha Lead

• (February 26, 2002) The Omaha Lead site includes
  surface soils present at residential properties,
  child care facilities, schools, and other
  residential-type properties in the city of Omaha,
  Douglas County, Nebraska that have been
  contaminated as a result of air emissions from
  lead smelting operations. The total area of the
  Omaha Lead site is approximately 8,840 acres. The
  site is being proposed to the NPL because of the
  presence of lead contamination in soil at
  residential properties, child care facilities,
  schools, and other residential-type properties.

44
NPL Site Narrative for Omaha Lead

• The Asarco facility conducted lead refining
  operations from the early 1870s until 1996. The
  Asarco facility is located on approximately 23
  acres on the west bank of the Missouri River in
  downtown Omaha. During the operational period,
  lead and other heavy metals were emitted into the
  atmosphere through smoke stacks. The pollutants
  were transported downwind in various directions
  and deposited on the ground surface due to the
  combined process of turbulent diffusion and
  gravitational settling. In addition, Gould, Inc.,
  operated as a lead battery recycling plant and
  was considered a secondary lead smelter in the
  area. The Gould, Inc., plant closed in 1982.
  Several other businesses in the Omaha area
  utilized lead in their manufacturing process.
  Subsequently in 1998, the Omaha City Council
  solicited assistance from the U.S. Environmental
  Protection Agency (EPA) in addressing problems
  with lead contamination in the Omaha area. The
  EPA initiated the process to investigate the lead
  contamination in the area under the authority of
  the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liability Act.

45
NPL Site Narrative for Omaha Lead

• An ongoing removal action included excavation of
  lead-contaminated soils from a number of
  properties. The criteria for removal included
  child care facilities and residences where blood
  lead concentrations in children were equal to or
  greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter (ug/dl)
  and where soil samples (collected outside the
  roof drip line) contained lead concentrations
  equal to or greater than 400 milligrams per
  kilogram (mg/kg). Currently, removals have
  occurred at over 290 properties. No further
  remedial action at these 290 properties is
  anticipated based on information currently
  available.

46
NPL Site Narrative for Omaha Lead

• EPA prepared a Preliminary Assessment/Site
  Inspection Report in 2001. This report summarized
  numerous investigations that have been conducted
  at the Omaha Lead site. Results of these
  investigations indicate that lead contamination
  is present at elevated concentrations up to 2.5
  miles from the former Asarco facility.
• Approximately 65,615 residents (20) are located
  within the identified area of soil contamination.
  There are twenty Omaha Public Schools within this
  area including fifteen elementary schools, one
  middle school, two high schools, and two special
  study centers. The total enrollment at the twenty
  schools is 11,725 students. There are
  approximately 240 child care facilities within a
  3-mile radius of the center of the site. The
  total number of children attending these
  facilities is unknown. Several parks and golf
  courses are present within the identified area of
  soil contamination. These parks are accessible to
  the public and provide recreational opportunities
  to the public. In addition, approximately 135
  acres of wetlands are located within the 4-mile
  radius of the site.

47
Updates

• http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A112
  46-2004Nov24.html
• http//www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/nar1660.htm