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HIGHEST LEAD QUARTERLY AVERAGES, 1996-1997 (AMBIENT LEAD LEVELS IN mg/m3)
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AREA
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1996
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1997
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Frisco
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0.69
|
0.45
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Dallas
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0.17
|
0.09
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Midlothian
|
0.27
|
0.26
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El Paso
|
0.40
|
0.12
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Houston
|
0.02
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0.00
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Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Air Monitoring Report 1996
(1998) and Environmental Protection Agency, National Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report, 1997 (Research Triangle Park, NC: EPA, 1998)
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Lead National Standard: 1.5 mg/m3
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Between 1970 and 1997, air emissions of lead in the United States were reduced from 320,000 to 4,000
tons per year, largely as a result of the country's phase-out of leaded gasoline.* In Texas, data from
the state emissions database reported a total of only 30 tons of lead emitted into the air each year from industries and utilities.* Nevertheless, lead continues
to pose a potential public health threat, in part because of its persistence in the environment. Lead poisoning can lead to retardation in cognitive
development in children, reduced mental ability, and damaged nerves and organs like livers and kidneys. It also may interfere with the creation of blood and raise
blood pressure, leading to cardiovascular disease.* Children and pregnant women are most at risk from exposure to high lead levels.* Because lead accumulates in the body organs, bones, and blood, even chronic exposure
to small amounts can be harmful to both human and animal life. Besides leaded gasoline, sources of lead pollution in
the air include metal smelters and the manufacture and reclamation of lead batteries.
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HIGHEST LEAD QUARTERLY AVERAGES IN EL PASO, 1980-2000
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(Ambient lead levels in mg/m3)
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Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission,
Office of Air Quality.
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In Texas, outdoor air pollution from lead is now limited to a handful of areas. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area,
citizens were concerned about the number of lead smelters and battery plants in the area, but most of these facilities were shut down in the mid-1980s, and
the lead standard has not been exceeded in Texas since 1990. Suspected health problems from exposure to high lead levels continue to concern Dallas-area residents.
An area of approximately one-half mile next to a major battery plant in the city of Frisco, Collin County, previously exceeded national standards, in 1987, but has not done so since then.*
In the early and middle 1980s, air quality at several monitoring sites in the city of El Paso violated national
standards for lead. However, the closing of a lead smelter plant in 1985 and the phase-out of leaded gasoline have brought ambient levels in El Paso to within allowable limits since 1986.
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