EVERETT — The Department of Ecology plans to test soil at two Everett parks to see if smokestack emissions from a former smelter have left traces of arsenic and lead.
The testing is set to begin in December at American Legion Memorial Park and Wiggums Hollow Park.
Both parks will be open during the testing, although visitors may notice workers and machines.
The soil testing is part of a multi-year state project to sample, test and clean up soil contaminated by the former Asarco smelter, which used to operate at what is now the intersection of E. Marine View Drive and Highway 529.
Dangerously high levels of arsenic, along with lead and cadmium, were discovered at the Everett site in 1990. The worst pollution was found at the site of the smelter and in the immediate vicinity.
That’s already been cleaned up.
The two parks fall into a larger area potentially contaminated by arsenic that fell from smoke emitted from the smelter’s stacks. The state is now busy working on making those properties right using money from a settlement with a company that acquired Asarco.
The state moved up testing at the parks because children are particularly vulnerable to contamination, said Meg Bommarito, Department of Ecology project manager.
So should moms and dads be worried if their kid is a bit of a Pig-Pen at one of these parks?
Health risks are considered low, she said. However, a lifetime of direct exposure to contaminated soil could cause several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes or nerve damage.
“We want people to take steps to protect themselves for exposure,” she said.
That includes not playing in bare dirt at the parks, washing hands after playing outside and not walking inside the home with shoes on.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
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