EPA Nearly Doubles Number Of West Atlanta Properties In Need Of Lead Testing

The EPA conducts testing for free. If a yard’s soil is contaminated enough to meet the EPA’s threshold for cleanup, the agency will remove and replace the soil for free, as well.

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Environmental officials are expanding the area in west Atlanta where they’re testing for high lead levels in people’s yards, nearly doubling the number of properties in the neighborhoods of English Avenue and Vine City that they say need to be checked.

The EPA has been sampling soil in parts of those Atlanta neighborhoods for a few years, after finding dangerously high levels of lead in some places.

This week, the agency expanded the area, what it calls the Westside Lead Study Area, to include more than 2,000 properties in English Avenue and Vine City neighborhoods.