Investigation of lead and arsenic contamination in New Orleans parish school soils

CHED 1098

Lovell Agwaramgbo, lagwaramgbo@dillard.edu, Jerrard Smith-Hopkins, jerrard.smith-hopkin@dillard.edu, Adriana Hawkins, lagwaramgbo@dillard.edu, and Deneyelle Wilson, aorta751@yahoo.com. Chemistry, Dillard University, 2601 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70122
Chronic lead exposure leads to mental retardation and damage to the central nervous system, reproductive systems, and developing fetus while Arsenic is known to cause cancer (kidney, lungs, & bladder. New Orleans sat in flood water for days & it was feared that receding water deposited contaminated sediments allover the city. EPA/LDEQ & NRDC conducted extensive sediment sampling to assess the effect of Hurricane Katrina on soil contamination. Although these two bodies sampled the same sites, yet their results and conclusions couldn't be farther apart. Thus, we decided to resample those sites reported by NRDC to have high levels of arsenic. We report here a part of our investigation aimed at re-examining the ill-effect levels of Arsenic and lead in New Orleans Parish Schools. The data from both X-ray Fluorescent spectrophotometer and inductively coupled plasma suggest that majority of the school sites sampled have arsenic levels above EPA cleanup levels.