Play smart in contaminated areas
Cynthia Taggart | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years, 8 months AGO
Every summer weekend, a Post Falls family deserts its comfortable home and heads to the Coeur d'Alene River near Cataldo to picnic, kayak, float on water toys and relax.
Family time is important to the parents, who work all week and want to treat their three children and golden retriever to something special on weekends.
But unknowingly, the parents are exposing their family to a health risk that they could lessen with the right precautions, if they knew about them. Every Sunday, they return home with kids, clothes, inner tubes, buckets, blankets, toys, dog paws and kayaks covered with dirt that ends up in their house. Much of that dirt is contaminated with unhealthy levels of lead.
"The Coeur d'Alene River basin is a fun place to play, but leave the soil there," said Jerry Cobb, director of the Institutional Controls Program (ICP) through Panhandle Health District (PHD). "It's an area of known environmental issues. The good news is that they're known and you can learn to take precautions."
Decades of mining and smelter activity contaminated the Coeur d'Alene River basin with lead and other metals. Mines discharged millions of tons of tailings - mining waste - into the south fork of the river until the 1960s. Although much of the contaminated soil has been removed, the removal process will go on for many years.
Contamination settled on river banks and the river bottom from Mullan all the way into Lake Coeur d'Alene. While clean material has been added and used to cover some contaminated areas, high-water flows and floods continue to stir up the soil and release contamination every year.
The ICP protects the public health throughout the area by managing any disturbance of potentially contaminated soil. It's harder to protect people who recreate throughout the area. For those people, PHD protects public health with information.
The message is this: lead can sicken people when they swallow lead-contaminated dirt, dust or paint.
Children are particularly vulnerable. Lead swallowed by children can cause learning disabilities, hearing loss, loss of coordination and slower growth. It can cause problems in the kidneys, liver and reproductive organs. Elevated blood lead levels can lead to headaches, hyperactivity and aggression, damage to the nervous system, seizures and even death.
In adults, lead contamination can cause memory problems, irritability, muscle and joint pain, problems getting pregnant, high blood pressure and digestive problems.
Following precautions while playing in the Coeur d'Alene River basin is like wearing a seatbelt when you're in a car. It's common sense; you know there are risks involved so you take simple precautions to protect yourself and your family.
If you play in the Coeur d'Alene River basin, you should bring your own water or wash, cook and clean with water from an approved source. Wash your hands after contact with the soil. As tempting as it is, children shouldn't play in and around the dirt. Small children, particularly, put everything in their mouths, starting with their dirty hands.
If you're planning to eat by the river, eat at a table or on a clean surface. Throw away any food that hits the ground. Utensils, pacifiers, toys and anything else that comes in contact with the dirt should be washed. That caution goes for wild plants growing in the area, too. They're not for eating.
Wash your hands and face before eating. Before leaving the river, wash off dirt from ground cloths, coolers, tents, chairs, toys, dog paws - anything that touched the dirt.
The Coeur d'Alene basin offers beautiful recreational opportunities. Take the simple precautions described above and enjoy your time in the great outdoors.
For a map of the Coeur d'Alene River basin, visit: www.phd1.idaho.gov/institutional/about.cfm.
Cynthia Taggart is the public information officer for the Panhandle Health District. She can be reached at ctaggart@phd1.idaho.gov.
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