A new study by Kansas State University researchers is looking at ways to reduce the risk of exposure to lead in soil in the hope of finding affordable methods that could be replicated around the country.

Ganga Hettiarachchi, a professor of soil and environmental chemistry, is leading the research with her team through a $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Hettiarachchi said conversations with officials from the health department and Brownfields program in Kansas City, Missouri, made her realize the scope of the issue.

“I came to know that the elevated blood lead levels in children in [the] urban core in Kansas City is about nine times higher than the national average," Hettiarachchi said. "And then nearly 50% of the parcels they tested, tested soil lead concentrations greater than 400 parts per million.”