Lead Contamination Is Still a Problem in Omaha. Why Is the City Cleaning Up Some Yards and Not Others?

Camila Ortiz González, 7, holds her 8-month-old brother, Isaías, at home in Omaha, Nebraska, in June. Although the Environmental Protection Agency cleaned up their family’s yard in 2012, the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica tests found levels of lead that are higher than before the agency remediated it. The agency denied their mother’s request to resample the yard. Rebecca S. Gratz for ProPublica In the last 10 months, residents in neighborhoods across Omaha, Nebraska, have contacted the city and federal government after tests by the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica showed they had enough of the toxic metal in their yards for the dirt to be dug up and replaced under Environmental Protection Agency rules.