Vashon Island Heavy Metals

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Elevated concentrations of lead, arsenic, and cadmium have been found on Vashon Island, Maury Island, and the surrounding mainland (see the King County's Tacoma Smelter Plume Project , Pierce County's Dirt Alert , and Thurston County's Tacoma Smelter Plume Study in Thurston County ). The source appears to have been the Asarco smelter in Ruston (near Tacoma).

Heavy Metal Handbook: A Guide for Healthcare Practitioners

Ask an expert! Do you have a question about your own soils, heavy metals and your health or a related question, send it to us .

You can grow cleaner dirt! This symposium (on 26 April 2003) was the second symposium on the subject of cleaning up our soil sponsored by the Heavy Metals Remediation Committee (HMRC).

Get the scoop on our dirt! This symposium (on 18 November 2002) brought together experts to talk about the risks and opportunities for cleanup of heavy metals in soils in the Puget Sound Region.

Arsenic and lead in farm products. Scientists at the Univeristy of Washington performed a study of arsenic and lead in farm products and farm families on the island: most of the results were equivocal. The full study can be found here. A short summary can be found here.

Chinese Brake Fern - the Department of Ecology is conducting a study using non-native Chinese Brake Fern (Pteris vittatae) to remove arsenic from contaminated soils, and the project is described in a local news story. Distribution information at the at the USDA indicates that the fern is not found in the Pacific Northwest. The ability of the fern to hyper-accumulate arsenic was reported in the journal Nature (more extensive information can be found here).

Preliminary phytoremediation results - A study performed on Vashon Island showed that native plants excluded arsenic and lead, but took up cadmium. A summary can be found here.

Access to metal data - the EIM Query System at the Department of Ecology website offers easy access to several Smelter Plume related studies.

The home page for the EIM system is here:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/eim/

The data has been prepared in a format that can easily be imported into a spreadsheet or database and can be downloaded at:
http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/eimreporting/Downloads.htm

There are 14 study data set downloads for the Tacoma Smelter Plume:

TSP-KC-E Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) King County Extended Footprint 7/1/2003
TSP-KCCU Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) King County Child Use Study 10/1/2002
TSP-KitC Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Kitsap County Footprint 2/1/2004
TSP-MAIN Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Phase II Mainland Footprint Study 2/12/2001
TSP-PC Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Pierce County Footprint Study 9/1/2001
TSP-PC-E Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Pierce County - Extended Footprint 9/1/2001
TSP-PCCU Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Pierce County Child Use Study 9/1/2001
TSP-TH-E Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Thurston County Extended Footprint 8/1/2004
TSP-TRAC Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Tracer Study 8/31/2000
TSP-VMCU Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Vashon-Maury Island Child Use Study 8/1/2000
TSP-VMI Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Vashon-Maury Island Footprint Study 9/17/1999
TSPKCCU2 Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) King County Child Use Study 2 12/20/2004
TSPKCSSP Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) King County Soil Safety Program 6/1/2006 ONGOING
TSPPCSSP Tacoma Smelter Plume (TSP) Pierce County Soil Safety Program 6/1/2006 ONGOING

You can access the data in the EIM system for these studies here.

Information on King County metal sampling - King County released information in March of 2002 about heavy metals in soils on the mainland. The maps and data for both the Vashon Island and mainland King County can be found here.

Information about the heavy metal content of soil amendments - Washington State Department of agriculture has a database of the contamination in commercial soil amendments. You can check out individual products at their web page here, or you can look at the sorted results here our web site.

If you live in these areas, it is prudent to take precautions to limit your exposures. We have summarized information in fact sheets:

Lead fact sheet
Arsenic fact sheet
Medical symptoms fact sheet

If you want to check the levels of these metals in your soil see:

Soil Sampling for Lead, Cadmium and Arsenic
Local Commercial Laboratories

More information can be found on this web site through the following links:

Arsenic Risks and The Tacoma Smelter Plume

Cleaning up: Suggestions for Homeowner's Heavy Metal Remediation
Heavy Metal Remediation Committee (HMRC)

The Heavy Metals Remediation Committee (HMRC) is a volunteer committee of the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council. The committee meets on the first Friday of the month at the Vashon Library. More information on HMRC meetings can be found here.

The Island Remediation and Public Participation Center (IRPPC) is a non-profit 501c3 organization formed to receive grants supporting the work of the Heavy Metals Remediation Committee of the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council. Board meeting minutes can be accessed here.