Case Study - Lynchburg, Va.
Case Study: Creating and Using a Local Lead Action Plan (LLAP) - City of Lynchburg,
Va.
In October 2019, City of Lynchburg officials attended the Mid-Atlantic Lead Forum, hosted by U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 3. They shared their experience addressing lead in drinking
water, including the challenges of having old infrastructure and lacking inventory of existing lead service
lines. Since the city had policies and procedures already in place to address the issue of lead in drinking
water, officials decided to further address lead through its Community Revitalization Department.
Discussion with EPA
Following the Mid-Atlantic Lead Forum, representatives from the City of Lynchburg and EPA Region 3
organized a call to recap the forum, discuss Lynchburg's lead issues and plan how to proceed. City officials,
having already addressed lead in some ways, had ideas for further incorporating lead exposure reduction
into emerging city plans and existing programs. EPA shared information about federal lead programs as
potential sources of information and funding. EPA Region 3 and the City of Lynchburg stayed in contact to
communicate updates on their respective lead programs. Since the City of Lynchburg had ideas for lead-
related objectives and activities to implement, EPA Region 3 shared the LLAP template to help the City
organize its plan.
Making a Local Lead Action Plan
The City of Lynchburg organized its ideas for addressing lead and created a three-page plan using
the LLAP. The plan short- and long-term goals and the actions - some of which were already in
progress - needed to achieve them. Priority actions, such as exploring lead-related grants and other
funding opportunities, included descriptions of estimated timeframes, partners, stakeholders and
steps to advance them.
The city shared its Lynchburg LLAP with representatives from EPA Region 3. Doing this helped city
officials identify opportunities for connections with EPA, other federal agencies and EPA partners
to potentially support the City of Lynchburg in achieving its proposed goals. For example, since EPA
provides outreach to landlords through its lead-based paint program, EPA was able to share ideas
regarding lead-related outreach pertaining to the city's landlords. Similarly, for more city-specific
actions such as creating a local ordinance, EPA shared resources, ideas and examples and provided
references to other entities for further information.
Continuing Work on the Local Lead Action Plan
Despite challenges and competing priorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Lynchburg
made progress on the Lynchburg LLAP by creating a map of the city with lead-related data, and
adding a new webpage to the city's building permit website.
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Throughout the year, the City of Lynchburg and EPA Region 3 held quarterly meetings. This was
an opportunity for the City of Lynchburg to share updates on the activities in the plan, and for
EPA to provide suggestions and assistance as needed to help advance the activities.
Communication continued between these quarterly meetings as EPA Region 3 shared regional
events and opportunities with the City of Lynchburg via email and the EPA Region 3 Lead
Newsletter. [R3_Lead_Newsletter@epa.gov TO SIGN UP]
Approximately one year after creating its LLAP, the City of Lynchburg is poised to revise its plan.
Many of the plan's original activities are now complete and new priority actions will be added to
advance its short- and long-term goals. EPA plans to continue its partnership with the City of
Lynchburg and support the city's new and ongoing lead safety activities.
Case Study: Lead Maps - City of Lynchburg, Virginia
To supplement activities listed in its LLAP, the city created a map to visualize lead-related data and target
priority areas to focus its lead exposure prevention efforts.
EPA Provided Support and Data
EPA Region 3 employs experts in mapping tools such as EJSCREEN, a publicly available web-based mapping
tool. EPA uses EJSCREEN to create maps with relevant data, such lead paint index, pre-1960 housing stock,
and areas in which children under age 5 reside.
EPA Region 3 mapping experts used EJSCREEN to create maps for the City of Lynchburg. The city used
these maps as base layers and added its own layers of local datasets relevant to its LLAP. For example, a
data layer showing rental housing could identify areas of focus for landlord outreach activities. A data
layer showing local building permits could identify areas of focus for Renovation, Repair, and Painting rule
compliance assistance.
The City of Lynchburg will continue to use and modify these maps as needed to support the ongoing efforts
and activities identified in its LLAP. EPA will assist with providing additional up-to-date data layers that
Lynchburg may add to its maps in the future.
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Lynchburg, VA-EJ Index for
~ City of Lynchburg, VA
IffiS"] EJ Index Lead Paint 95th%ile
(95th%ile) Overview
vyEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Matthew T. La. OECEJ 9123/2019
Figure 1: This map shows results from EPA's EJSCREEN mapping tool showing the presence of lead-based paint in Lynchburg,
Virginia. (Note "%ile" means "percentile" and "EJ" means "environmental justice")
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