Lead contamination of soil can result from a variety of activities such as renovation work on structures containing lead-based paints. Some home gardens are even grown in lead contaminated soil, which accumulates lead in the roots, stalks and leaves. We also collected samples along the sides of streets. The burning of lead containing fuel such as gasoline and heating oil is also a risk of lead contamination. Lead levels of up to 400 ppm in soil are not currently considered a health risk.
Leaded soil becomes a health risk when it is ingested or breathed as soil dust.
Young children, because of their play habits, are most likely to inhale and ingest contaminated soil. The object of our experiment was to search for soil that potentially contained greater than 400ppm lead. We first went to a nearby neighborhood and collected our samples form various areas and then tested them. As shown in Table 2 only two of our samples contained lead. Also in our chart is an identification and description of the various soil samples we collected.