Brooklyn Ground Zero for Lead Soil Problems
Gardens of houses built before 1978 (when lead-based paint was banned) are likely to contain soil with excessive levels of lead, according to an article in today’s New York Times, which means that most Brooklynites with access to a back yard have some work to do. Frank Meuschke, an artist living in a rented house…
Gardens of houses built before 1978 (when lead-based paint was banned) are likely to contain soil with excessive levels of lead, according to an article in today’s New York Times, which means that most Brooklynites with access to a back yard have some work to do. Frank Meuschke, an artist living in a rented house in Brooklyn, had his soil tested at Brooklyn College for $12 and found that it contained nine times the normal amount of lead. The health implications go beyond whether it’s safe to eat a tomato from your garden– Gabriel Filippelli, a professor of earth science at Indiana University-Purdue University has shown a direct correlation between lead levels in people’s blood and how much lead is in the soil where they live. Approaches to dealing with the problem include replacing the soil altogether to putting down sod to mixing in compost and lime. What approaches have readers used?
Looking to interview someone who has been tested for lead soil in these Brooklyn neighborhoods and it turned out high. Also anyone concerned about the lead in the soil in these Brooklyn areas.
CC
I guarantee that everyone who has soil under their feet has elevated lead, amongst other things, in this or most cities. The questions is -does it matter? Adults with lead poisoning spent a life working around the manufacture of paints or other leaded goods. Not gardening in the city. Ask the Italians in Williamsburgh growing grapes and zucchini how many of their friends and family got sick from lead poisoning.
I grow my vegetables in pots and planters. Wouldn’t do otherwise in my small yard. My landlord seems like just the kind of guy to dump crap in there over the years. Plus, its right next to the house and street with its flaking old paint and car exhaust. Stuff like this, its coming from all over anyway, dust in the wind.
Whatever. I grow stuff anyway, wash the veggies. I do not think I will have lead poisoning. I simply wanted to know, plus I run the blog and wanted a local soil testing service -ESAC. Info, not alarmism.
But its good to test your soil for metals and nutrients, salts, PH, etc. Soil is the foundation of the garden after all.
It’s the New York Times, to them Brooklyn is some exotic unchartered territory like the badlands of Tasmania.
They have however heard, through reliable sources, that it is a land of dirty dirt.
The Times may know Paris, and London, and Jerusalem, but it doesn’t know Brooklyn from Shinola.
Don’t forget….this is the same ny times that brought you the three day scare over radiation emanating from granite counters last year…..aside from the areas of brooklyn where there is known contamination to the soil and the water table, do they intend to make a connection between lead paint in the houses and lead in the soil? that’s interesting, because if that were to hold true, then the air and surfaces inside the houses should be hot also. not to say that lead isn’t quite dangerous, but to what extent are the yards of all brooklyn contaminated, and did it come from the paint in the houses….
I don’t grow veggies just posies and mint for my juleps.
the very very very last thing that I would worry about is that my mint juleps will give me lead poisoning.
To get anything to grow back there the landscaper brought in tons of dirt and manure and mixed it all in with the local Brooklyn clay -which will not sustain any life forms other than lichens.
The guy in the article lives in Kensington, so not necessarily in an area known to have problems. But high levels could be due to coal ash which would be common everywhere that used coal for heat. I am not as wigged out about lead as others may be since I’ve probably been exposed to a lot of things I’m unaware of and I’m pretty darn healthy. The great gardening reality is that the areas around all of our houses used fill on site which has a great deal of clay in it. Clay is not that great for growing the vegees (and a lot of other things) anyway and top soil and compost would improve the vigor of anything you chose to grow. Raised beds would solve the need for good drainage that is a problem in clay soil. So, for the sake of getting the best vegetables in the smallest space, raised beds are the way to go no matter what your worries about soil may be.
There have been a couple of postings about this in the Forum recently.
Good to know.
i just had our backyard tested and the results are very high lead levels. i think it’s likely because of coal ash, rather than lead paint.
at my last physical i had my lead levels tested (i was curious because i eat a lot of fish), but it was fine. and i’ve been gardening in my backyard for 3 years… so that makes me less worried. my understanding is that it doesn’t get absorbed through the skin, but it’s important to take precautions against ingesting or breathing dust.
we are doing raised beds for veggies this summer, and using garden fabric as a barrier.
WTbound – I tried the Sunflowers but now the Cardinals in my garden can’t spell.