The most concerning spot was “hole 18,” which is a sand box where children play. Within the top two inches of the soil — likely the most accessible spot in the park since kids dig in a sand box — arsenic levels tested at 725 parts per million. Lead within the top two inches tested at 817 parts per million.

EPA did not comment on the park by press time. But Montana Superfund director Joe Vranka said in a previous email that Benny Goodman Park was sampled for arsenic sometime between 2002 and 2010. EPA had the park tested to a depth of two inches.

“Based on sample results (in the early 2000s), no action was required,” said Vranka.

But according to WET’s testing, 16 spots in the park tested high for arsenic in the top two inches of the soil. WET’s tests show 15 areas in the park where lead is above what EPA considers safe in the top two inches of the soil.

The area where the arsenic level was the highest in the top two inches of soil in the park was the sand box, WET’s sample results show.

The highest level of lead came back, at 1,118 parts per million, at a depth of two to six inches, just under a tree in the middle of the park.

The highest arsenic level in the park, at 1,285 parts per million, at a depth of six to 12 inches, is in the sand box.

Arsenic is a known carcinogen. Lead exposure in children can cause learning and behavioral problems, brain damage, developmental delays and other physical and mental problems, according to EPA’s website. Although lead exposure is a concern for people of all ages, young children, from newborn to seven years old, are the most at risk.

EPA has determined that safe levels of arsenic in the soil for Anaconda is 250 parts per million and safe levels of lead are 400 parts per million in the soil. EPA says it based those levels on laboratory tests. But critics of EPA’s cleanup in Anaconda point out that the Smelter City has one of the highest levels for arsenic at Superfund sites across the nation.

EPA’s level of 400 parts per million for lead in Anaconda is “generally considered an appropriate screening level for soil lead,” according to EPA’s website.

EPA began retesting Anaconda’s soil for lead last summer at greater depths — up to 12 inches — which is deeper than the federal agency was willing to go in the early 2000s when it began the soil cleanup for arsenic. EPA project manager Charlie Coleman previously told The Standard the agency thought it would catch lead when it cleaned up for arsenic, but EPA found, over time, that that did not fully hold true.

Now, EPA is planning to remediate more than 1,000 properties in Anaconda for excessive lead in the soil. And Atlantic Richfield has offered the first 500 property owners $1,000 each to agree not to sue over the cleanup.

That residents have been living with high levels of lead in their soil for nearly two generations since Anaconda’s Washoe Smelter shut down in 1980 has caused concern for many residents.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Chief Executive Bill Everett said the test results have made the county aware of what’s in the community’s soil.

Elizabeth Erickson, one of the principal owners of WET, said risk to arsenic and lead is based on exposure. Kids spend more time in their back yards and less time in a park. That makes the park’s sand box “a little different level of risk.”

“But, yes, we’re concerned,” she added.

Atlantic Richfield’s Houston-based spokesperson Jason Ryan said, via email, that it received the county’s sampling results on Benny Goodman Park Tuesday. The company has offered to replace the contaminated sand with new sand.

“The rest of the park will be further investigated and remediated, as necessary, under direction from the regulatory agencies,” Ryan said via email.