HIGH RESOLUTION SAMPLING OF URBAN SOILS FOR COMPARISON WITH DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS TO BETTER CONTEXTUALIZE LEAD VARIABILITY ACROSS TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA

Terre Haute is an older city with many pre-1940’s homes, over 20 brownfields, a Superfund Site, an extensive road and rail networks, and is downwind from one of the most polluting electric utilities in the US. Many Terre Haute youth have also been diagnosed with Pb poisoning. Although many of the environmental sources of Pb have been eliminated, historic pollution continues to impact the Terre Haute community. In addition to high past traffic volumes, deteriorating and improperly removed Pb-based paints and Pb solder in older gutters continue to impact these urban soils. The Terre Haute Lead Project seeks to better understand the spatial distribution of Pb across Terre Haute. To achieve this, new data is being collected from city owned properties, residential areas, and community gardens. Residential testing includes collecting data from the yard near the street, beneath the gutter near the house, the garden, and other areas of interest to the homeowner. Data is collected in the field using a portable XRF, and data is shared with the homeowners immediately. Field data is later verified after sample processing and ICP-OES analyses. Existing data from Phase I and Phase II site assessments for redevelopment properties is also included in our database. Many of these redevelopment sites are located close to residential neighborhoods, parks, and schools. Most of the Pb remediation and awareness efforts in Terre Haute are focused on Pb-based paints. As a result of the many past environmental sources of Pb, Terre Haute urban soils have a high Pb burden with many values >1200 ppm and some values >10,000 ppm. Once data has been collected, the spatial variability of Pb will be predicted using multiple indicator kriging and results will be compared with demographic characteristics.