Current
UnleadED: A Proposal to Measure Trenton Lead-Water Levels at Scale
2019 Faculty Research Award
Award Period: 2019-2021
Princeton faculty members Jennifer Jennings and John Higgins will lead an interdisciplinary team that will collect and analyze water samples from homes across Trenton, New Jersey, in order to gauge the prevalence and distribution of lead contamination citywide. The researchers will partner with teachers in Trenton Public Schools to distribute testing kits to elementary, middle and high school students for taking water samples at school and in their homes. The kits will be linked to individual home addresses so that the researchers can identify high-risk areas for contamination, as well as work with individual households to report testing information and provide information for reducing lead exposure.
The researchers will publish their findings regarding the levels and locations of lead contamination in Trenton to a publicly available website. At the same time, they will work with Trenton teachers to provide teacher training, classroom materials and lesson plans focused on avoiding lead exposure. This project expands on Higgins’ ongoing PEI Urban Grand Challenge project to develop a no-cost lead test for Trenton residents by allowing for a large-scale examination of the city’s lead contamination. UnleadED: A Proposal to Measure Trenton Lead-Water Levels at Scale full story.