The City of Somerville last month became one of a small number of communities nationwide to receive a federal grant to prevent lead poisoning.
The roughly $1.9 million in federal funding will go to the Lead Hazard Abatement Program, the city-sponsored initiative that provides interest-free forgivable grants to homeowners to eliminate sources of lead.
Lead abatement has been a priority for the city for a decade, according to Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone.
"The grant is an endorsement of our successful efforts since 2001," Curtatone told the Daily. "It is going to help a lot of properties out here. It will help alleviate a critical public health issue."
Lead poisoning is especially problematic in New England because of its generally older housing, according to Doug Brugge, a professor of public health and community medicine at the Tufts School of Medicine. Urban areas are another significant source of deteriorated housing, he said.
Twelve communities received federal funds for lead abatement, Curtatone said. Of those, three are in Massachusetts, according to a city press release.
The federal funding to Somerville — amounting to $1,876,179 in total — will help the city achieve its goal of eliminating lead hazards from 120 private residences, according to the press release. The grant comes to Somerville from the federal Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Grant Program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Lead poisoning, or extreme exposure to lead, can cause neurological problems, according to Brugge. Children are especially vulnerable, he said. They can suffer from learning problems, hyperactivity and behavioral issues, and at high levels of exposure, they can become overtly ill.
The Somerville community experienced three reported cases of high blood-lead results among children under the age of six in Fiscal Year 2010, according to data compiled by the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP), part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The program screened 87 percent of children ages 9 to 48 months in Somerville for lead last year, according to the CLPPP.
According to the CLPPP, the Massachusetts Lead Law requires that owners remove or cover all lead-paint hazards in homes constructed before 1978 in which children under age six live. If these homes are not determined lead-free by a lead inspector, Massachusetts state law also requires that children who live in them be tested for lead every six months while they are between the ages of six months and three years, and again at ages four and five.
While a high blood test reading in children may act as an incentive for parents to remove sources of lead, Brugge said that homeowners would be better off removing lead before children have a chance to be exposed.
"From a public health perspective, [removing lead after exposure] is not ideal," he said. "At that point, the child already has lead in their system. It would be better the other way around."
Seventy-eight percent of housing units in the city were reported to be built before 1950, according to the CLPPP, and thus are more likely to contain lead.
Eligibility for Somerville residents to participate in the program funded by the grant is based on household income and household size.
Curtatone hopes that the program will improve the quality of life of every family in the city.
"It is important that everyone can live without this health and safety hazard affecting their well-being," he said.
