Years ago, arsenic poison from a former grasshopper pesticide plant at 28th and Hiawatha quietly blew into the neighborhood, and for 18 Seward homes that ill wind has required emergency soil cleanup, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data.

That data showed these homes had soil arsenic levels at 95 parts per million (ppm) or higher, a level considered “an immediate threat to human health,” according to the EPA. One Seward home, on the 2500 block of 28th Avenue South, had 985 ppm arsenic in the soil, or more than 10 times the level that triggers clean-up action.

Tim Prendiville, EPA’s remedial project manager, said the agency tested approximately 630 Seward residences. Of those, 68, or more than 10 percent of the total, had elevated arsenic levels, between 20 and 95 ppm.

Arsenic occurs naturally in the soil. Background levels for south Minneapolis are estimated between 10 and 16 ppm, EPA documents said. Rita Messing, a Minnesota Health Department supervisor, said low-level chronic exposure to arsenic, such as one could get from contaminated soil, carries slightly increased risks of cancer, cardiovascular problems and nervous system problems for the hands and feet. While it is possible to breathe contaminated dust, the greater risk is ingesting contaminated dirt from unwashed garden vegetables or hands.

A poisonous legacy
The arsenic appears to have come from Reade Manufacturing, which produced arsenic-based pesticides at 28th and Hiawatha from 1938-1963, a Minnesota Department of Agriculture summary said. A separate company leased the site until 1968, continuing to use it to store pesticide. Officials discovered the arsenic contamination on the property in 1994 during Hiawatha Avenue Corridor reconstruction. Crews have cleaned up that site, but more difficult is tracking down all the wind-borne toxins that landed in people’s yards.

The East Phillips neighborhood has borne the brunt of the contamination. The summer prevailing winds blow northwest, in this case away from Seward and towards Phillips. However, Seward received it own share of the contamination, too.

For the worst contaminated properties, the EPA pays contractors to remove the top 12 to 18 inches of dirt, haul it off and replace it with clean fill. Depending on the lot size, it costs between $10,000 and $20,000 per home, Prendiville said. By the end of 2007, EPA expects to spend $6.7 million for testing and cleanup in East Phillips, Seward and other affected neighborhoods.

At the state’s request, the EPA is reviewing Superfund designation for an area around the former pesticide plant, which would increase clean-up money for future years.

Prendiville said the arsenic contamination doesn’t show a pattern. The EPA data shows a wide variation of contamination on a single property. Typically, the EPA takes two samples per property, a front yard and back yard sample. For one property on the 2000 block of 25th Avenue South, one sample tested 960 ppm, which requires emergency clean up; the other sample tested 20.3 ppm, barely above background levels.

Cleanup signs are evident throughout the neighborhood. Recently cleaned yards are covered lot line to lot line with a beige mesh, a biodegradable material to hold new grass seed in place so it doesn’t blow away.

Seward resident unconcerned
Longtime Seward residents Gordon and Jacquelyn Balfe, who live on the 2600 block of 29th Avenue South, got a letter from the EPA June 2 saying their yard had high arsenic levels. The backyard tested at 106 ppm and the front yard tested 176 ppm.

Gordon Balfe is not too concerned about the contamination. A retired postal carrier, Balfe said he bought the house in 1958, raised four kids and hasn’t noticed any ill health effects for anyone in the family. He went to a September community meeting at the YWCA to talk to EPA officials. “First thing I asked was, ‘Maybe you ought to retest,’” he said. “They said it was a hot spot.”

The cleanup work took approximately one week, said Balfe, who had high praise for the crew’s work ethic. It removed about 15 truckloads, or 150 yards of dirt, from his yard. EPA reimburses homeowners for plantings so they can replace their landscaping. The Balfe’s list—two rhododendron, five Monrovia junipers, one berry tree, a 6-foot to 8-foot hedge (five plants) and one Cedar tree—totaled $610.

Prendiville said EPA has tested 3,500 homes in a three-quarter-mile radius of 28th and Hiawatha, including Seward, East Phillips and other neighborhoods. In all, 197 properties had arsenic levels at or above 95 parts per million. About 500 properties, or 14 percent of the total, have elevated arsenic levels.

The EPA tested the western half of the Seward neighborhood, up to a line that varied between 29th and 31st avenues. (The tests included kid-intensive areas—schools, parks and childcare facilities. None had elevated arsenic levels.) Of the 68 Seward homes that had elevated arsenic levels, 23 homes had 20-30 ppm, 34 homes at 30-60 ppm and 11 homes at 60-95 ppm.

The EPA has not yet decided what treatment to give properties with elevated arsenic levels. Gordon advocates an optional clean up for those properties. “We have so many questions about what is a safe level,” he said. “They should clean up, or at least offer it, all the way to background levels.”

According to Prendiville, the EPA’s timeline for key decisions is as follows.
ß The EPA will decide by the end of the year whether it needs to expand the testing area.
ß By early next year, the EPA is expected to finish the “Human Health Risk Assessment.” It will estimate the different ways neighborhood residents could be exposed to arsenic, the toxicity levels and the potential health risks from that exposure. It will guide clean-up decisions.
ß By the end of 2007, the EPA expects to decide the size of the clean-up area and what treatment to give homes with elevated exposure. These decisions will include the boundaries for any proposed neighborhood Superfund site.

Have more questions? Contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Cheryl Allen: 800/621-8431, ex. 36196.

last revised: November 27, 2006

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