Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 12, 2012
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
The U.S. Environment Protection Agency will spend $28.4 million to remove 428 tons of lead-contaminated soil from polluted yards here.
It’s estimated that about 800 residential properties with lead concentrations of 400 parts per million will require remediation. And the Big River, a curvy river that spills water into the floodplain, is to blame.
The plan calls for the excavation of 12 inches of soil, which is about half of another plan considered by the agency that would have cost $55.5 million and would have removed up to twice as much soil.
Excavated soil will be taken in covered trucks to the Timber Ridge Landfill to Richwoods, which is in Washington County.
Studies and samplings signaled widespread lead contamination in the river’s 100-year floodplain that extends from Leadwood, in St. Francois County, to the Meramec River confluence near Eureka, the EPA said.
The Big River has carried mine waste through the county and beyond, and the waste has been used for fill material, topsoil, private driveways and aggregate for road construction, the EPA said. The river’s source of contamination is believed to be from upstream, from historic mining areas.
The county is covered by the Southwest Jefferson County Mining Superfund site. Only Herculaneum, home to the Doe Run lead smelter, is not included in the site — it has its own designation.