Lead Levels In Children Living Near Bunker Hill Continue Decline

The percentage of Silver Valley children with elevated levels of lead in their blood continues to drop, evidence that the yard cleanup effort is working.

This year’s screening of children living within the 21-square-mile Bunker Hill Superfund Site - which includes the communities of Kellogg, Smelterville, Page and Wardner - showed 16.3 percent, or 48 children, had blood-lead levels greater than 10 microgram per deciliter.

By comparison, last year’s screening showed that 18.5 percent, or 57 youngsters, had elevated lead levels. In the previous two years it was 19.2 percent or 59 children and 30 percent or 89 children, respectively.

“The good news is we’re coming down,” Jerry Cobb, environmental health specialist for the Panhandle Health District, said Thursday.

This year only 13 children, or 4.4 percent, had levels that exceeded 15. Last year it was 19, or 6.2 percent.

Two children tested at greater than 20, down from four last year. Two others had lead levels that exceeded 25 micrograms per deciliter, the same as last year.

The cleanup strategy within the Bunker Hill Superfund Site calls for replacing contaminated soil with clean dirt in all 1,500 residential yards, with 200 yards being done each year.

So far about 800 yards have been completed, Cobb said.

Residents also are being advised to dust, vacuum and mop more often to reduce the risk of ingesting lead from household dust that is carried in from outside.