Lead Hazards in NYC

New York, NY

By Ori Fisher

A couple of months ago, when I first arrived in NYC, I was asked by my landlord to sign a form declaring that I am aware of NYC lead hazard in old buildings. Although for many Americans the lead hazard is kind of “old news”, for me it was new, as I discovered the major lead hazard in NYC from old peeling paint, piping and industrial areas. I therefore decided to explore the subject through spatial analysis and created my map project. I found a sufficient amount of data on the subject in various NYC, state of NY, and US data sources. This data focused mostly on high blood lead levels in children in the past 20 years. My project is mostly based on this information.

For data analysis, I used various QGIS software techniques such as Geocoding, Geoprocessing, Georefrencing, Choropleth maps and joins, as well as software such as Paint.net and Excel. My project examined the issue on four levels: that of the neighborhood, the city, the state and finally, on a national level. The incidence of high blood lead level, and risk factors for exposure, such as peeling lead-based paint and old lead related industry areas, were mapped according to these four levels. My project shows that despite of the fact that in the last decade lead hazards decreased in NYC specifically, as well as all over the state, there is still much work to be done in order to improve children’s health and to make this place a safer and healthier one to live in.