For more than a century, a smelting plant in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, spewed lead-laced smoke across the city. As the toxic metal drifted toward the ground, approximately 400 million pounds of it — nearly the weight of Chicago’s Willis Tower — settled into the soil and bodies of countless Omahans. Since 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Omaha have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to clean it up.
Flatwater Free Press is partnering with ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative newsroom, to find out how effective they’ve been and see what questions are still out there about one of the largest residential environmental cleanups in America.
Sign up to have your soil tested for lead by filling out our form. If you live in one of the affected areas listed below, a member of our team may come collect a soil sample from your yard. Once it’s tested, we will inform you of your results. (You may opt out of receiving the test results if you prefer.)
If you have any questions, please contact Flatwater Free Press reporter Chris Bowling at [email protected] or 402-302-0066, Ext. 5. We invite you to share this form with your neighbors and community so they can sign up to have their soil tested for lead, too.
Omaha Lead Superfund Site Map
This map shows the Omaha Lead Superfund Site. Flatwater Free Press is interested in testing properties within the site as well as those in surrounding areas like Bellevue; neighborhoods east of 72nd Street; Carter Lake, Iowa; and Council Bluffs, Iowa. We will prioritize collecting soil from within these neighborhoods.
Click or tap the map to enlarge.
