UPDATE: Eilers neighborhood facing lead problems
Residents in the Eiler Heights Neighborhood are now facing the task of decontaminating their home from lead.
A total of 102 homes in the neighborhood were tested for the metal, inside and 19 were found to have levels in need of removal.
The Eiler Heights sits East of Interstate 25 between Northern Avenue and Santa Fe.
The Environmental Protection Agency made the announcement at a Pueblo City Council meeting on Monday night.
The affected homes are on the Superfund site. Homes with lead traces inside will need to be cleaned. The EPA says they are set to begin cleaning the contaminated houses June 20.
“We’ll have to go in and clean materials in the home, so that could be a combination of wet cleaning, damp cleaning, as well as vacuuming.”
All the cleaning is coming at no cost to the homeowners. Which is something Sylvia Proud is happy to hear, especially for any children living in the homes.
“They’re crawling on the floor, they’re putting toys in their mouth. So as adults, we’re not doing that,” Proud said.
Until the EPA can clean the homes, they suggest taking shoes off before going inside so as not to track in dust and mopping surfaces instead of vacuuming.
A meeting was held Tuesday night in the Rawlings Library, where over 100 residents gathered to voice their concerns about the lead contamination.
Officials from several agencies spoke with residents on the Superfund site and the sampling taken in the Eilers neighborhood.
Some residents left the meeting feeling better about their concerns.
“I thought they answered people’s questions very thoroughly. I didn’t ask one myself, but I thought everyone else’s were covered very well,” said resident Jack Swager.
Others still have unanswered questions, however.
“The issues they talked about were not answering our questions, like telling us how to clean our own house. Well, we clean our house all the time,” said resident Abrina Wilder.
For more information on prevention measures, visit the Pueblo County Health Department’s website, www.pueblohealthdept.org/dirtalert
