As part of a new site-wide assessment of the Cherokee County National Priorities List (NPL) Superfund Site in southeastern Kansas, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will provide free home lead testing. 

The EPA will look into contamination inside the site's perimeter, a recent news release said.

“Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead poisoning," Meg McCollister, EPA Region 7 administrator, said in the release. “As a mom of three kids, I encourage moms and caregivers of young children living within the boundaries of the Cherokee County Superfund Site in southeastern Kansas to act now. You can protect your family from dangerous lead exposure by contacting us to have your yard, drinking water well, and even playground areas tested.”

The 115-square-mile site is comprised of the Kansas portion of the former Tri-State Mining District (TSMD), a 2,500-square-mile region in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The TSMD was formerly among the biggest lead and zinc producers in the world.

Residents can sign up to have the EPA test their yards, private drinking water wells, agricultural land and other areas such as playgrounds, parks, streams and mine wastes for heavy metals from the mining; the release said. Lead is the main contaminant the agency is concerned with.

So far, the EPA has "cleaned up approximately 12.9 million cubic yards of mine waste and contaminated soil from the site; restored 2,747 acres of mined land to beneficial use; and cleaned up lead contamination at 800 residential yards at the site during past response actions," the release said.