‘Lead-Safe’ effort launched

Tips offered to reduce exposure

Clean up paint dust. Run your water. Get young children tested.

Those are among the highlights of the City of Milwaukee’s lead awareness campaign, which was unveiled Friday by Mayor Tom Barrett and others.

The “Lead-Safe Milwaukee” campaign includes advertisements on buses, fliers, online ads and a

website. “We want to let the community know that there are several very common-sense, inexpensive ways to deal with these issues,” Barrett said during a Friday news conference at Moody Park Pavilion.

City officials especially want to raise awareness among pregnant women and parents of infants and young children, Barrett said.

“We want to take simple steps that can immediately reduce the risk of lead exposure,” said Bevan Baker, the city’s health commissioner.

The new campaign features tips for reducing the dangers of poisoning from lead paint as well as lead pipes.

Homes built before 1978 typically contain lead paint, and the paint dust and chips can be hazardous — especially to young children. And homes built before 1951 likely have lead pipes, also known as lead laterals or lead service lines.

Many of Milwaukee’s older homes still have lead paint, and some 68,000 residential properties in the city have lead pipes.

The campaign includes tips like cleaning up lead paint chips and dust with a wet rag that can be thrown away; covering bare soil near homes where the paint is chipping; using cold water for drinking and cooking; flushing water from lead pipes; and getting children tested for lead exposure. It also encourages families living in homes with lead pipes to use a water filter that removes lead, and urges parents to have children tested for lead three times before age 3.

City officials say that the prevalence of blood lead levels at 10 micrograms/deciliter has decreased by 90% since 1997 through Milwaukee’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and other efforts.