2007 COMMUNITY HEALTH DATA ANALYSIS

Environmental

Housing Analysis
According to the 2000 census 20% of houses in Cape Girardeau County are over 50 years old, and an additional 12.8 % were built before 1940. These homes are located in the older section of town, with some in the rural areas, and generally occupied by lower social–economic populations. Checking with the city staff of both Cape Girardeau and Jackson, there are no lead abatement/renovation projects that have occurred since our last analysis. Lead testing for the FY 2006 shows 13.10% of our kids were tested for blood lead (state= 19.25%) with 2.94% having elevated lead levels (state = 2.21%). These children all lived in the city of Cape Girardeau in the older homes we've described.

Water Supply
According to the data found and confirmed by Poplar Bluff DNR as well as Cape Girardeau County EOC there are 245 Hazardous Material sites in Cape Girardeau County. The larger ones (P&G, Lone Star etc) are not located near water supplies, and we are not certain of the location of the smaller ones. This is something to be determined in the future. Also, according to DNR, there were 61 incidents with hazardous substance in 2004. None near any water supplies. After looking at the data 22 of those were diesel, gasoline spills. One call wanted assistance with mercury disposal. The rest were calls made to DNR from the Methamphetamine disposal lab located in Jackson, MO. These calls are placed to DNR each time Meth is found and confiscated then disposed of. There was a potential major problem near Lone Star in 2004 after a hazardous waste hauler fell asleep as he was just approaching the plant (Lone Star contracts with generators of Hazardous Materials to dispose of it). The truck overturned, rolling over and compromising the integrity of the tank, landing on its side. It took almost 12 hours, but local firefighters using a "balloon system" raised the truck back upright without breaking the cavity. Cape Girardeau County Public Health was called to assist with this incident, and remained on scene the entire time. We do have several large operations in our county that do contribute to environmental risks. Our water supplies are not fluoridated.

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