Health Officials Go Door-To-Door To Check Residents Following Fears Of Contamination From Battery Recycling Plant

HACIENDA HEIGHTS (CBSLA)  -- Health Department officials went door-to-door Saturday canvassing a Hacienda Heights neighborhood with concerns of possible contamination from a nearby battery recycling plant.

Officials also set up a resource fair that had plenty of people on hand to discuss the situation with neighbors.

CBS2/KCAL9's Joy Benedict reported from the fair and as the health department knocked on doors.

"I understand that," Jerry Roberts, "they're trying to keep the neighborhood safe."

At issue is the Quemetco Battery Recycling facility about a block away.

"The state's been doing some testing and they've observed, that in fact, at times the emissions of both arsenic and lead that have been really high," said Barbara Ferrer, director of the LA County Department of Health.

Ferrer was one of a dozens of people from the health department checking on neighbors and handing out information about staying safe.

"One of the biggest concerns, obviously, is exposure to lead for small children, children under 6 and pregnant women because lead is devastating in terms of brain development and organ development," says Ferrer.

At the resource fair, the health department also offered free blood tests for possible lead levels.

"I think as parents of course we're a little bit  concerned," says Mike Tseng who brought his wife and three children along for testing -- just to be safe.

"Our kids play out there all the time in the dust. I try to remind them to wash their hands before they eat," Tseng says, "But you know."

Health department officials told Benedict that small particles of lead are released during the battery recycling process -- and those particles end up in the air and settle on lawns nearby.

That's why it's recommended that those living near the plant don't garden or even allow small children to play outside.

"If they're walking through their yards when they come in to the house they need to take off their shoes not track the soil through and wash their hands," Ferrer says.

Quemetco doesn't address the issue directly on its website but points out that they have invested $50 million in pollution control equipment in the last decade and neighbors Benedict spoke to said they weren't too worried.

"We just haven't been sick we have no affects at all. So it has not concerned me," says Roberts.

As of now, testing is only being done within a quarter mile of the facility but those who live around here want that changed, They want soil tested for a couple miles from this plant to be safe.

"Because we know that the wind pushes stuff that way and that's my neighborhood and those are the places we don't know fully the extent of the contamination," says Rebecca Overmeyer-Valazquez of the Clean Air Coalition.

Another reason for the resource fair and the blood tests -- the county making sure Quemetco is being a good neighbor and doing their part to keep those who live in the community safe.