Hygienic Laboratory to test 150 homes for lead

The University Hygienic Laboratory will test at least 150 homes in Polk County for traces of lead as part of the clearance inspection process conducted by Polk County Health Department.

Patty Rose conducts testing for blood lead levels.

Homes identified as containing lead contaminants must pass a stringent follow-up inspection to ensure that all lead hazards have been removed before children are allowed to return to the residence. Federally mandated clearance inspections require a visual examination and a test of environmental dust samples collected by a wipe test. The Ankeny Laboratory tests the samples collected in the wipe test.

"We will perform clearance testing for lead in wipes once the lead has been removed from the home and the house is cleaned," said Don Simmons, environmental program manager. "Families are put up into a local hotel while the work is done on the house. The whole process takes about a week per house and amounts to about 15-20 samples per house.

"The critical part of this is a fast turnaround time for the wipe samples because the Health Department has families waiting anxiously to get back into their homes, and the cost gets higher the longer they are in the hotel," Don added. "We can typically turn around the samples in 24-48 hours."

Polk County Health Department received a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct the testing. The project is expected to be complete in three years.