Tests show elevated levels of soil contaminants at two Hillsborough schools

TAMPA — Soil tests conducted at Lockhart Elementary and Young Magnet Middle schools show elevated levels of mercury, arsenic, lead and other contaminants, but there is "no significant health risk," Hillsborough school district officials said Thursday.

Testing was initiated after the state Department of Environmental Protection told the district in 2008 of potential concerns about the sites, which lie atop a landfill that closed in the late 1960s.

The district hired an environmental engineering firm and a toxicologist to analyze soil samples. According to district documents, those studies found contamination at levels greater than the state's default levels for residential cleanup, but "consistent with typical levels in urban soils."

Parents at the schools were notified this fall of the test results. And the district has fenced off parts of the Young campus as a precaution while awaiting a response from state officials, spokesman Stephen Hegarty said.