Jim Macy, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 7 Office in Kansas City, said a pilot project along the Big River in Jefferson County may help in efforts to stop the spread of lead contamination.
Macy recently visited a site around river mile 30 near Morse Mill Park on the Big River where the EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources are working together to build and maintain a sediment trap to collect contaminated soil in the area.
Parts of Jefferson County are included in the Old Lead Belt of southeast Missouri, known at one point as the leading producer of lead in the world…