Are our kids in danger?

Getting the lead out is taking some time.

Eight schools in Yakima appear on the Department of Ecology's Hazardous Sites List because of the lead and arsenic content of the soil on their playgrounds.

Six schools are in the Yakima School District -- Barge-Lincoln, Gilbert, Hoover, Robertson and Whitney elementary schools and Wilson Middle School. One is in the West Valley School District -- Apple Valley Elementary -- and one in the East Valley School District -- Terrace Heights Elementary.

Some schools have been on the list for more than two years, even though the state has offered to perform and pay for the contamination cleanup, requiring no school district funds.

The Ecology office of Central Washington began testing soil at schools in four counties, including Yakima, several years ago for levels of arsenic and lead, which were sprayed in fruit orchards from the early 1900s to the early 1950s as pesticides.

Since many schools in Central Washington have been built on cleared orchard land, Ecology was looking to see if soil contamination could pose a health hazard.

Of the more than 100 public schools tested, about 35 were found to have contamination that exceeded state guidelines of no more than 20 parts per million of arsenic and 250 ppm of lead.

In tests done in 2005 in Yakima, Gilbert School had the highest levels of both arsenic and lead (204 ppm of arsenic and 1,019 of lead) of all the Yakima School District schools.

Tests results at Apple Valley School in the West Valley district were similar to those at Gilbert: 124 ppm for arsenic and 1,083 ppm for lead.

According to the state Department of Health, long-term exposure to lead can cause brain damage and neurological problems, while arsenic is believed to be linked to cancer.

"There's a large body of evidence that says children are more sensitive to the effect of lead because it interferes with brain development," explained Jim White, toxicologist for the state health department in Olympia.

Noting that both arsenic and lead occur naturally in the environment, White said that it's the possibility of greater than normal exposure that carries the risk of harm.

The Legislature passed the Safe Soils Act in 2005, creating an account to pay for cleaning up schools, which costs between $300,000 to $500,00 per site.

The rationale was that schools inherited the problem rather than creating it, so the state decided to shoulder the cost of removal, explained Valerie Bound, a Yakima supervisor in Ecology's toxics cleanup program.

Compliance was left voluntary, however.

"We didn't mean this to be scary, we just encouraged schools to do the cleanup, the sooner the better," Bound said.

Logistical concerns appear to have delayed some of these projects. Both Yakima and East Valley officials mentioned scheduling as a problem -- trying to find the least disruptive time to tear up a school playground.

However, it's not clear if scheduling is a concern in West Valley; repeated requests for comment from school officials there were not answered.

John Schieche, East Valley superintendent, said that there's contradicting evidence on the health risk of ingesting lead and arsenic.

"We've heard that a child would have to eat something like 50 pounds of dirt," Schieche said.

White, the state toxicologist, acknowledged that some people believe other health issues are more important than lead and arsenic in dirt.

"But some think that even a relatively small health risk is unacceptable," he pointed out.

White puts himself in the latter group. If he had a child attending a school with the amount of lead in the playground that has shown up in some Yakima-area tests, he would want it cleaned up.

"That's a high number," he said.

While Ecology's Bound agreed that a toxic chemical spill, for instance, could be more hazardous, she pointed out that arsenic and lead are not benign.

"Has the danger been exaggerated by Ecology?," she asked. "I don't think so."

One common method used in cleaning hazards is "capping," where the soil is blanketed by a black landscaping fabric, providing a barrier, then covered by 6-8 inches of soil.

Last summer, Ecology cleaned up all the affected elementary schools in Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties.

The first, and only, school in the Yakima area to undergo a cleanup is Naches Valley Intermediate, in 2006.

Superintendent Duane Lyons explained: "We put together a parent group, which included a physician, for advice on what to do. Even though they considered it a small risk to the children, they thought it made sense to go ahead with the cleanup."

Lyons said the group decided the school district should take advantage of the state funds, in case monies became unavailable later.

Things have not been so expeditious in Yakima.

Cleanup began at Robertson School in the summer 2006, then halted after a few days.

Yakima assistant superintendent Scott Izutsu said the main problem was that the playground was still going to be a muddy, torn-up mess when school opened in the fall.

Talks also bogged down between Ecology and the district over the use of sod versus grass seed on top of the newly-laid soil. Izutsu said Ecology officials originally offered sod but backed away later, saying it was too expensive.

"Midway through the plan, they changed the parameters," he said. "There was no way grass seed was going to take hold before school started."

But that's not how Ecology's Bound remembered it. Since sod costs five to 10 times what grass seed does, the department hasn't used it in any other schools, she said.

"We didn't offer sod, because we knew it was way too expensive," she said. "Early on, we may have said we could look into trying to buy it in bulk, but they misinterpreted our offer."

Izutsu is convinced that grass seed won't work, adding that he knows of no plans for future contamination removal in Yakima schools.

He pointed out that losing the use of a playground during the summer means no summer school, no summer sports on the site and the specter, if there are delays, that school will resume with no available play area.

In East Valley, plans are moving ahead for contamination removal at Terrace Heights Elementary, possibly next summer. John Hultman, who coordinates construction management for the district, is working with Ecology to keep possible building expansion in mind before cleanup begins.

Although the cleanup at Naches Intermediate was deemed a success, it clearly wasn't without headaches. By all accounts, it was an arduous process.

"The disruption to school was fairly large," Lyons reported.

What should have taken no longer than eight weeks dragged on until mid-November, impeded by a much rockier soil than expected and contractor delays, Bound said.

"It really was one thing after another, but ultimately we gave them a really good product," she said.

Lyons concurred. "The final outcome was good, and we're free of contamination."

Bound remains sanguine about the possibility of cleaning up all eight area schools, ideally by fall 2010.

"We're not going to push cleanup on anyone; a school district has to want to do it," she said. "But our feeling is, if we're looking at a long-term exposure to a health risk, let's take care of it."