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Northwest Indiana School Shuttered Due To Lead Concerns

An elementary school in Northwest Indiana won’t be open for the start of school next week because it’s contaminated with lead. It’s part of a discovery in East Chicago that is also driving hundreds from their homes. WBEZ’s Michael Puente reports.


soil/drought dirt

A neighborhood in East Chicago is being uprooted as the EPA works to remediate the soil. The neighborhood had once been home to a lead smelting plant.

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EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) — The School City of East Chicago is moving students from a school next to a housing complex where soil is contaminated with lead.

The (Munster) Times reported Tuesday that Carrie Gosch Elementary students are being moved to a school across the city partially because of low enrollment possibly resulting from parents reluctant to send their children to school at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site or uncertain about where they’ll be living as they await vouchers to move.

Only 92 students have enrolled with classes due to begin next week.

The city has advised more than 1,000 residents they should relocate after the EPA said the ground within the housing complex had high levels of arsenic and lead. The neighborhood once had a USS Lead plant.

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