EPA grant for radon testing will only pay for test kits in Postville, not elsewhere

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it was awarding $120,000 to Resource Conservation & Development for Northeast Iowa, Inc. to develop and implement lead and radon remediation strategies and to provide information about local environmental and public health issues (http://www.decorahnews.com/news-stories/2018/10/20470.html).

As a part of this project, lead paint and radon test kits will be available for households--but only those with a Postville zip code (52162).  These kits will be available with both written and one-on-one translation services to assist non-English speakers with testing and interpretation of test results.

RC&D officials say the agency hopes to help up to 800 households in Postville test their homes for lead paint or radon within the next two years. Remediation strategies will be discussed with householders who see positive results.

Said Project Coordinator Nathan Thompson, "We know that 12 percent of Postville residents are under the age of 5, a vulnerable population for exposure to lead. We also know that over 60 percent of Postville homes were built before 1965, making it likely those houses have lead paint in them."

RC&D Executive Director Lora Friest noted that the RC&D will be working with Public Health on this project as much as possible. She said, "There was no deliberate multi-lingual outreach to Postville community members about this issue before the project and public health officials in the region rarely distribute information in any language other than English. They just don't have the time or resources. But in communities like Postville, which have a high percentage of immigrants and children, this is extremely important."

Test kits for both lead paint and radon will be provided at no cost and will be available for pick-up and drop-off at the Northeast Iowa RC&D office in Postville.