Pollution Analyst
How it works→
Superfund / NPL site · EPA Superfund SEMS through latest publishNPL Final

Cherokee County

This site is currently on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List and remains under federal cleanup oversight. Most-cited contaminant of concern: Lead.

Southeast Portion Of The State Of Ks, Cherokee County, Kansas · ZIP 66739 · EPA ID KSD980741862

See Cherokee ContaminantsEquity contextHow we read Superfund data
CLEANUP TIMELINE

Listing-date and cleanup-phase enrichment from EPA's per-site SEMS profile is queued for a follow-up ingest pass. Until then, this section will populate from EPA's published timeline data.

Anomaly engine

Notable Signals

No notable signals at this Superfund site for the current ingest. Cleanup-phase and SEMS-action flags are deferred to a follow-up engineering pass.

Contaminants of concern · per EPA SEMS

What's In This Site

Each row pairs a contaminant with the medium it was found in (the exposure pathway). Hover any named contaminant for an agency-cited health-risk summary. Cited count = number of SEMS decision records (RODs and related) that name the pair.

ContaminantPathwayCited
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Soil11
ZincHealth riskGenerally low acute toxicity. Chronic high-dose exposure disrupts copper absorption and immune function. (ATSDR)Soil7
CadmiumSoil6
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Solid Waste6
ZincHealth riskGenerally low acute toxicity. Chronic high-dose exposure disrupts copper absorption and immune function. (ATSDR)Solid Waste6
CadmiumGroundwater5
CadmiumSolid Waste5
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater5
ZincHealth riskGenerally low acute toxicity. Chronic high-dose exposure disrupts copper absorption and immune function. (ATSDR)Groundwater4
BariumHealth riskSoluble barium compounds are toxic if ingested, affecting the heart, kidneys, and nervous system. Insoluble forms (e.g. barium sulfate) are far less toxic. (EPA)Groundwater2
CadmiumSediment2
CadmiumSurface Water2
ChromiumHealth riskHexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) is an IARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation, causing lung cancer; trivalent chromium is far less toxic. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater2
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Groundwater2
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Sediment2
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Surface Water2
ManganeseHealth riskExcess inhalation can cause manganism, a Parkinson-like neurological disorder. (ATSDR)Groundwater2
MercuryHealth riskNeurotoxin. Methylmercury bioaccumulates up the food chain and damages the developing nervous system. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater2
NickelHealth riskNickel compounds are IARC Group 1 carcinogens; inhalation exposure raises lung and nasal cancer risk. (IARC)Groundwater2
SeleniumGroundwater2
SilverHealth riskChronic exposure can cause argyria — irreversible blue-grey skin discoloration. Generally low systemic toxicity. (ATSDR)Groundwater2
ZincHealth riskGenerally low acute toxicity. Chronic high-dose exposure disrupts copper absorption and immune function. (ATSDR)Sediment2
ZincHealth riskGenerally low acute toxicity. Chronic high-dose exposure disrupts copper absorption and immune function. (ATSDR)Surface Water2
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Solid Waste1
ChromiumHealth riskHexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) is an IARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation, causing lung cancer; trivalent chromium is far less toxic. (IARC, EPA)Solid Waste1
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Solid Waste1
IronSolid Waste1
ManganeseHealth riskExcess inhalation can cause manganism, a Parkinson-like neurological disorder. (ATSDR)Solid Waste1
Drinking-water linkage · SDWIS

Groundwater Systems Serving Communities Within 3 Miles

The 2 systems below draw on groundwater (or mixed sources) and serve communities whose centroid sits within 3 miles of this site. Distance is to the served-city centroid — SDWIS does not expose individual wellhead locations, so this is a proximity screen, not a wellhead-impact assessment.

Water systemServesDistancePopulation servedSourceStatus
Cherokee Co Rwd 2 MunicipalRiverton1.1 mi943GROUNDWATERIn compliance
Cherokee Co Rwd 8 MunicipalRiverton1.1 mi1,235GROUNDWATERIn compliance

Methodology: served-city centroid (TIGER 2020) is used as the PWS coordinate. Source-water classification from SDWIS primary_source_code; only groundwater and mixed-source systems are queried. Click any system above for its full SDWIS profile.

Equity context · ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics

Who Lives Near This Site

Cherokee County, Kansas (no Census block groups within 1 mile and no host city — falling back to containing county): a population of 19,380. Why we surface this →

POPULATION SHARE
13.7%

Low-income

POPULATION SHARE
13.9%

People of color

POPULATION SHARE
7.0%

Under age 5

POPULATION SHARE
19.5%

Over age 64

Source: Census ACS 2018-2022 (5-year) + USEPA-clone EJ blockgroup stats (raw indicators + EJ disparity mirror). NPL site proximity contributes to the national EJ pattern; indicator-level percentile and disparity scores are surfaced on the county page and the state page.

Source. EPA Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) · retrieved 2026-05-07. SEMS is a federal public-domain dataset under 17 USC §105.

What this is not. We report EPA's published Superfund record — site listing, status, and contaminants of concern as named in EPA's decision documents. We do not perform site visits, independent air or water sampling, or current-state health-risk assessment. NPL listing reflects EPA's Hazard Ranking Score at a point in time; it does not by itself describe present-day exposure.