Environmental Protection Agency scientists have detected lead and arsenic in the yards of many Midvale homes, as well as in vacant lots and businesses - with one sample showing lead at an astonishing 4,000 parts per million.
The highest level found at any house is about 2,500 ppm, said Midvale Mayor Everett Dahl.The soil contamination was caused by heavy metals in tailings at the defunct Sharon Steel Mill site. During windstorms, dust blows off the tailings scattered across the 260-acre site.
"To go ahead and clean this up is going to be a real big exercise," Dahl said.
"For instance, what they're talking about is removing soil to a certain depth and hauling it over and dumping it with the rest of the tailings. And then they'll bring in new topsoil and replant the grass and replace the shrubs.
"And then they'll actually go in and give people a spring housecleaning."
That is one of several options that the EPA will discuss in greater detail on Wednesday, May 23, in a public meeting from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Midvale City Auditorium, 80 E. Center St.
Some level of one or more of the dangerous metals studied _ lead, arsenic and cadmium _ was discovered at nearly every one of the 200 properties checked near the tailings, Dahl said. "The farther you get away, the less residue."
EPA officials are calling in residents privately, so they can sit down with toxicologists and other experts on Tuesday and Wednesday, and learn what the figures mean before the public meeting.
EPA has considered setting "action levels" _ the point at which some action should be taken to protect health _ at 500 to 1,000 parts per million. Its recommendation on that should be released Wednesday.
State experts believe the action level should be "around the lower end of that range, if not the lowest," said Kent Gray, branch chief for the Midvale Superfund Site, Utah Division of Environmental Health. He added that this is based on the fact that "we've got people living in it."
To the best of his recollection, he said, several areas of Midvale have readings higher than 500 ppm. "Then as you get closer to the (Sharon Steel) site, it gets higher _ 500, 1,500, 2,000 (ppm)."
"Generally, I think that a fair amount of the community has got 500 (ppm) or more, in that area . . . those that are close to the tailings."
He thinks he remembers that the figures drop on the other side of the freeway from Midvale. "But there are certainly a number of areas in the community, based on my recollection, that are within that 500 to 1,000 (ppm) range," Gray said.
One sample reached 4,000 ppm, said J. Sam Vance, Denver, the EPA's project director for the Superfund cleanup of the contaminated Sharon Steel tailings in Midvale. Sampling took place in October and November 1989.
On Wednesday, experts will talk about the concentrations and present the EPA's and the state's proposed remedy for the problem, based on concern for human health and the environment.
This week, the EPA mailed letters to residents and owners of the 200 locations where samples were taken, close to the 14 million cubic yards of tailings.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, residents and lot owners will attend "data availability sessions" with EPA and state officials, including toxicologists who will give information and spell out what it means in terms of whether health effects are possible.
"The idea is to answer their questions directly, give them the data, and allow them to basically ask what this means," said Vance. The cleanup is planned under the Superfund Program, which attempts to remedy abandoned hazardous waste sites.
As part of the sessions, officials will require the residents and owners to either show a picture identification with a current address of the property involved, or picture ID plus some other proof of a connection to the property, such as a water bill.
"That's to preserve privacy," Vance said. "We've collected this data, and it deserves to be kept private.
"It's nothing terrible, it's nothing horrible, but certainly if your yard was sampled you wouldn't want someone to go pick it (the information) up for you."
Asked if the 4,000 parts per million sample is "quite high," Vance replied, "Yes, but that's only one single location, one single sample, and that is by no means indicative of samples across the area."