Galesburg’s lead issue has now received national media attention, much of which has been focused on contaminated water in sampled lead service lines.
The Federal Environmental Protection Agency stepped in earlier this week after Congresswoman Cheri Bustos reached out to the agency. The action resulted in Galesburg agreeing to provide filters and additional water testing, as well as completing a corrosion control study. The exact amount to fund the measures is unknown, though City Manager Todd Thompson says he doesn’t expect it to be costly.
Despite the majority of national and statewide attention centered on water, Galesburg administration and Knox County Health Officials continue to say the bigger problem is in Knox County as a whole, and it surrounds lead paint and dust in homes, which already is costly.
Knox County Health Department Administrator Michele Gabriel once again told aldermen at Monday’s City Council meeting, testing homes where exceeding lead levels are found is no money maker.
“It costs us about $1,600 from start to finish to case manage a child’s case,” Gabriel said. “We receive about $400 from the State of Illinois.”
Gabriel added that the department consistently deals with 20 to 25 cases at any given time throughout the year.
The KCHD has said they believe up to 90 percent of high lead levels in affected residents can be attributed to environmental factors.
With water and the environment as the two main sticking points, one thing is clear, and that is that no official cause has been determined as the all encompassing source for high lead levels.
Bustos’ office said today that they are in search of federal grant assistance from the EPA, Centers for Disease Control and Department of Housing and Urban Development, which would be used for lead abatement, though unspecified for now. County and City officials both say they are not actively searching for federal aid at this point.
