Soil testing inside the country's largest residential lead cleanup site has found contamination at levels high enough to raise children's blood lead, including in yards the federal government marked as remediated two decades ago.
The Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica tested 388 homes within the Omaha Lead Superfund Site and found that 208 of them had soil above 100 parts per million of lead, the level an Environmental Protection Agency risk model indicates would be needed to protect most children under current health guidance. The newsrooms tested more than 600 properties in all, including 150 the EPA said had already been cleaned up. Of those, one in ten still exceeded the federal cleanup level that the work was supposed to eliminate.
For families with young children, the finding lands in an ordinary place: the yard. Soil is not an abstract exposure route for a toddler. It is a surface that gets touched and then goes into a mouth.
The Gap Between the Cleanup Standard and Current Science
The EPA's cleanup threshold for Omaha is 400 parts per million. That number was set in 2009 and rests on health recommendations dating to 1994.
The science has moved since. Research has linked lower exposures to IQ loss in children and heart attacks in adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has twice lowered what it considers a high blood lead level over the last 15 years. The EPA risk model that produced the 100 parts per million figure translates to roughly ten grains of rice worth of lead in a ten-pound bucket of dirt.
That leaves a wide band. A yard testing at 250 parts per million sits well above the level modeled as protective and well below the level that triggers federal cleanup. Under the current standard, nothing happens.
The regulatory direction has also reversed. In 2024, the EPA under President Joe Biden lowered its recommended screening level, the trigger for closer study of a property, to as little as 100 parts per million. In October 2025, the Trump administration rolled that back, raising the lowest screening level to 200 parts per million in what it described as an effort to speed cleanups of the highest-risk areas. Researchers have estimated that cleaning every U.S. property above 100 parts per million would cost between $500 billion and $1.4 trillion, and have argued for covering contaminated soil with clean soil or mulch as a cheaper alternative to excavation.
The contamination itself is legacy industrial pollution. A lead smelter and refinery near downtown, along with other factories, released roughly 200,000 tons of lead dust over about a century. The Omaha Lead Superfund Site covers 27 square miles, and the EPA has spent $273 million digging up and replacing nearly 14,000 yards since 1999. Internal agency testing cited in the reporting found that 84% of the site, more than 36,000 properties, had areas above 100 parts per million.
Why Yard Soil Matters More for a Toddler Than an Adult
Young children absorb a larger fraction of ingested lead than adults do, and their developing nervous systems are more vulnerable to it.
The exposure route is behavioral. Children under about six routinely put hands and objects in their mouths. Soil clings to hands, toys, shoes and pets, and dust tracked indoors settles on floors where crawling children encounter it. The EPA site profile identifies ingestion of contaminated soil as the primary exposure pathway and names children under seven, along with pregnant and nursing women, as the groups facing the greatest risk.
There is no safe blood lead level in children. Effects at lower exposures are not dramatic in the moment, which is part of the problem. Children with elevated lead often look and act well. Attention, learning, and behavior effects show up later and are difficult to attribute after the fact.
Gardening adds a second pathway. Soil lead can adhere to root vegetables and leafy greens grown in it, and disturbing soil raises dust.
The Measurement Problem Underneath the Contamination
Nebraska does not require universal blood lead screening for children. Thirteen states do, including neighboring Iowa, where all children get a blood test before kindergarten.
The consequence is a data gap. Fewer than half of children under seven in Omaha east of 72nd Street, the area that includes the Superfund site, are tested for lead, and most kids living there go untested in any given year. Only 1- and 2-year-olds enrolled in Medicaid are required to be tested, and even then roughly two-thirds of eligible children in the county receive the test annually.
That matters beyond individual children. Kellen Ashford, an EPA spokesperson, has said that while soil lead levels drive EPA action, blood lead data can inform decisions such as lowering cleanup thresholds. Jim Woolford, who led the EPA's Superfund program from 2006 to 2020, has warned that if children are not tested and community levels appear low, officials could "declare victory" and move on rather than fund further remediation.
Naudia McCracken, who supervises the Douglas County Health Department Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, has said Omaha needs to come to grips with its lead problems, noting that most of east Omaha's housing predates the lead paint ban and that many homes are served by lead water pipes.
Blood lead levels in Omaha children have fallen sharply, from 33% of tested children in the Superfund site showing high levels in 2000 to 2.4% in 2025, consistent with national trends and following extensive soil replacement. Children within the site still test high at rates above the national average.
Steps for Families in Affected Neighborhoods
A blood lead test is the only way to know whether a child has been exposed. Nebraska recommends testing every child living in the Superfund site at ages 1 and 2, and Douglas County recommends annual testing until age 7. Pediatricians can order the test, and Medicaid covers it for enrolled children. The county health department runs a lead poisoning prevention program that conducts home visits when a child tests high.
Households can check a property's recorded lead level and remediation status through the city's property lead registry, though the newsroom testing found remediated designations that no longer reflect current soil conditions, so a green result is not a guarantee.
Practical exposure reduction does not require a cleanup. Keeping bare soil covered with grass, mulch or ground cover reduces contact and dust. Removing shoes at the door, wet-mopping rather than dry-sweeping, washing hands after outdoor play and before meals, and washing toys that go outside all cut the pathway. For gardening, raised beds with clean imported soil are the standard recommendation over amending existing ground. Lead prevention specialists describe these as real risk reducers but not a long-term substitute for remediation.
Parents should not attempt to interpret a soil result as a diagnosis. Soil lead indicates potential exposure. Only a blood test indicates actual exposure, and a clinician should interpret the result.
The EPA is currently testing soil around Omaha as part of an investigation that could expand the site's boundaries or lower the amount of lead that qualifies a yard for cleanup, with findings expected by October 2027. Locally, the Douglas County health department has been preparing an ordinance proposal that would require testing for children up to age 7 in and around the site, and a state senator has said she is weighing new lead legislation. MedicalDaily will report the reassessment outcome and any change to the cleanup standard.
Key Questions Answered
What did the testing find? Of 388 homes tested inside the Omaha Lead Superfund Site, 208 exceeded 100 parts per million of lead in soil. Among 150 previously remediated yards, one in ten still exceeded the 400 parts per million cleanup level.
Is 100 parts per million the legal cleanup level? No. The EPA's cleanup standard for Omaha is 400 parts per million, set in 2009 based on 1994 health recommendations.
Which children are most at risk? Children under seven, especially those who play in bare soil, along with pregnant and nursing women.
How does soil lead reach a child? Primarily by ingestion, through hand-to-mouth contact with soil and with dust tracked indoors.
How do parents find out if a child has been exposed? A blood lead test ordered by a pediatrician or arranged through the Douglas County Health Department. Medicaid covers testing for enrolled children.
What reduces exposure without a full cleanup? Covering bare soil, removing shoes indoors, wet-mopping, handwashing before meals, and using raised beds with clean soil for gardening.
What happens next? The EPA is reassessing the site and expects to share findings by October 2027, a review that could change the cleanup threshold and the number of eligible properties.
