Residential lead abatement

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• Lead is highly toxic and is considered a serious environmental health threat to children under age six.

   

   

• Common sources of lead exposure include lead-based paint that has deteriorated into paint chips, lead dust, and soil contaminated with lead.

   

   

• Blood lead levels (BLLs) are used to measure the presence of lead in the body. The Centers for Disease Control issues guidelines that recommend various treatment actions be taken at specified blood lead levels equal to or greater than 10 mcg/dL.

   

   

• A study by the U.S. General Accounting Office found children who are poor, non-Hispanic Black and/or living in urban areas where older housing has deteriorated have a greater prevalence of lead poisoning.

   

   

• All homes built prior to 1978 are considered to be potential sources of lead exposure, however, housing built before 1950 generally contains the highest amount of lead-based paint.

   

   

• New England has a much higher percentage of older housing stock compared to the U.S. total. In Connecticut, 35 percent of the state’s total housing units were built prior to 1950.

   

   

• Based on 1990 census data, there were 272,294 children under age six in Connecticut; 54,850 (20 percent) were screened for lead poisoning in 1998.

   

   

• Of the children screened, 2,522 (4.6 percent) had a BLL equal to or greater than 10 mcg/dL, and of those, 598 children’s BLLs were equal to or greater than 20 mcg/dL.

   

   

• Under Connecticut law, property owners are liable for abatement of defective interior and exterior surfaces that contain toxic levels of lead and are in a residential dwelling where children under the age of six reside or may reside.

   

   

• Connecticut regulations do not require a child be diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level in order for an abatement order to be issued.

   

   

• If a child under age six has a blood lead level of 20 mcg/dL or greater, Connecticut law requires an epidemiological investigation and an inspection of the child's residence must be conducted by the local health department or building code enforcement agency.

   

   

• If the building is multi-family, the inspector must determine if any other children under age six live in the building, identify the unit, and conduct an inspection. If lead is found, regardless of the blood lead level of the child, the property owner must abate all defective lead-based surfaces in the units.

   

   

• If a local director of health determines lead hazards will not be abated within a reasonable time frame and continued exposure will harm a child, the local health director is authorized to use community resources to relocate the family.

   

• Local Health Departments/districts conducted 903 lead inspections in FY 98.

   

• During FY 98, a total of 275 abatements were completed, and approximately 1,200 abatement orders remained outstanding throughout the year.

   

   

• The Hazardous Materials Program, the state’s major program to abate lead in residential housing, is funded through the sale of bonds, supplemented by a variety of federal funding sources.

   

   

• Total state Hazardous Materials Program and federal expenditures to date for lead abatement have been slightly more than $6.2 million and $5.3 million respectively.

   

   

• Lead has been abated in 722 dwelling units since inception of the Hazardous Materials Program.

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