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Interventions to Reduce Lead Exposure Risk

Interventions for Soil

Interventions to avoid contaminating self and others​:​
  1. Take off outside clothes and shoes that you wore to work, gardening, and anywhere where you may have been in contact with soil to avoid bringing lead inside the household. 
  2. Wash your hands after you garden to avoid touching mouth with contaminated soil.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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Interventions for gardening:
  1. Use a raised garden bed with clean soil (not the contaminated soil) to grow fruits and vegetables that is away from busy raodways and older homes. This is to avoid dust traveling from roadways, and paint peeling or chipping into the new soil. â€‹â€‹
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​​​​​​When eating what we have gardened:
  1. ​Throw away the outer leaves of vegetables 
  2. Wash all fruits and vegetables well with cold water and vinegar
  3. Avoid eating roots, stems or leaves of plants 
How to remove lead from soil: *​
  1. Amendments: adding organic matter or compost to the soil to bind the lead​ (examples= dead leaves, manure, fruit rinds, phosphate, lawn clippings, branches, insects, coffee grounds, and banana peels) ​​
  2. Phytoremediation: place plants that can absorb lead in contaminated areas (examples= sunflowers, mustard greens)
  3. Excavation and Replacement: remove the contaminated soil and replace it with clean soil. 
​
Without removing the lead, how to reduce exposure: *
^Though these do not remove the the lead in the soil, it reduces direct contact and lead dust
  1. Mulching and ground cover (examples= wood chips, straw)
  2. Covering soil with grass (examples= grass seeds)
​
*Make sure to do safely. Wear face mask, gloves, wash hands, take off clothes and shoes used before entering the home again, and keep children away from the contaminated area.
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Interventions for Water

Using cold water: 
  1. Run cold water for a few minutes before drinking or cooking with it. Make sure to run cold water when water has been sitting in the pipes for many hours.  
  2. Avoid using hot water because it can extract lead from pipes more than cold water.
​Cleaning: 
  1. Clean faucets to make sure there is no trapped lead particles 
  2. Dust and wet mop floors often to remove lead dust that can reach the drinking water
Interventions using filters to absorb lead and other contaminants from drinking water:​
  1. Point-of-Use filters: Installed under the sink.
  2. Pitcher filters: Filter drinking water when added to the pitcher.
  3. Faucet Mounted filters: Installed on faucets.
Point of Use Filter
Water Pitcher Filter
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water pitcher filter.jpg
Faucet Mounted Filter
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