East Chicago, Indiana - August 24, 2016
Josiah King, 3, whose blood lead levels tested above the CDC’s 5 mg/d threshold for action, goes back into his home in the West Calumet area of East Chicago, Indiana. King's mother Stephanie King said that she tries to keep her five children from playing outside but that doing so has robbed them of their summer. Her other four children tested below the threshold for action.
The West Calumet Housing Complex, which is currently home to about 1,200 people, is located on a 79-acre Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site where a USS Lead facility was located in East Chicago, Indiana. Up until 1985, a lead refinery, a copper smelter and a secondary lead smelter were also in the area. The houses were built between the late 1960s and early 1970s.
CREDIT: Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times 30194607A
